War Against the Daimyo
by Aleucard11
Summary: Lady Himawari's death leads to rising tensions across the Land of Fire. While the newest generation is growing up, the agreement between a shady man and a royal prince will contribute towards the start of a revolution. T for Swearing. Alternate Universe. Be warned! ON HIATUS UNTIL I CAN FIND THE MOTIVATION FOR IT AGAIN. SORRY.
1. Chapter 1: Hokage

**A/N: Alright. I've been on hiatus for quite a while… Shit happened. Two years happened, finding out I had an incurable, genetic and possibly fatal defect happened, IB happened, lots of things happened.**

 **Life loves to throw watermelons at my face. It's complicated.**

 **Reading back on my old fanfics, I realised how shit and how Mary/Gary Sue/Stu all my OC's were. No depth, knows everything, a steaming pile of shit.**

 **I decided to start all over. This time, I ain't messing with canon. No, I'm starting a whole new era.**

 **I hope nobody's done this before. It's hard to do, but it's gonna be great.**

 **The story takes place some twenty/thirty years after Boruto becomes a genin. We're going to assume nothing interesting happens during that time. Peace, fruits, happiness, technology, all that shit.**

 **Then comes politics and sudden hostile changes. Be warned if you're not into Game of Thrones style 'you win or you die' politics. Shit is gonna get dark, and fast.**

 **I'm not a second George RR Martin but I DO kill off characters. Just be warned, because, unexpected character deaths might upset you.**

 **The main focus isn't going to be on Naruto's descendants. I'm going for an unorthodox angle. The main character is my latest original character, an incredibly flawed, badmouthed, angry little Nara. Warning for teenage angst, sometimes warranted and sometimes not. We all throw petty tantrums sometimes, maybe over something stupid, maybe not.**

 **Also, since in canon, by the time Naruto is the Hokage, technology has pretty much caught up to the 21** **st** **century. There will be SOME future tech in my fanfiction. No cars or anything though, because since shinobi exist, they have no reason to actually invent any transportation more advanced than carriages.**

 **This fanfiction is my fucking pride and joy. It's been a lingering plot bunny for a while now, and seriously, I have never written so many words for a fanfiction before. I've never had the drive to actually finish one or plot for one with an extended, detailed plotline.**

 **By the way, if you're completely confused about the background of this fanfiction, I can create an interlude chapter wherein I will describe the events that have happened since the end of the Fourth Shinobi War in complete detail. If not...**

 **Let the games begin.**

* * *

 _May – Gogatsu –_ _五月_

SARADA I

"That is all, Hokage-sama."

Sarada nodded. "Dismissed. Please notify the Hatake clan about Chunin Hatake's condition."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Sarada Uchiha sighed. A fine shinobi had been broken today, her own student, nonetheless. "Spider, I'm taking a break. I will be back as soon as possible."

Spider, her personal ANBU, bowed without a word as she exited the room.

She was not going to take a break when she had someone to visit. Shunshinning towards the hospital, she asked for Hatake Akira's room number.

"He is in room three hundred and seventy, Hokage-sama. He is quite distraught."

 _Of course he is distraught, you dimwit, he just lost his career!_ Sarada wanted to snap, but instead, she gave a tight smile, a curt, polite thank-you, and went on her way.

She entered the room. The walls were a boring white, and so were the sheets, the floors, and even the cloud-covered skies. A young man sat in the bed, staring out the window, when he noticed the Hokage come in.

"I would bow, but I'm currently indisposed, Sarada-sensei." He gave a taut smile that betrayed his churning emotions.

Sarada sat down next to his bed. "How are you feeling, Akira-kun?" she asked softly.

Akira didn't answer, instead, began to stare out the window again.

"I'll never fight again," he finally said.

"I know."

An uncomfortable silence stretched on.

"What exactly happened, Akira?" Sarada asked seriously.

Akira gathered his thoughts before speaking, not looking at his Hokage.

"Lady Himawari was not in the best state of mind," Akira stated quietly. "I tried to stop her from throwing herself off the building, but she hit my tenketsu and closed most of them. I tried to stop her again, but all she did was drag me off the building with her. I couldn't land properly using chakra…"

 _…_ _And so he got paralyzed from the waist down._ Sarada finished his sentence in her own head.

Hyuga Himawari was the current head of the Hyuga clan after Hinata had retired and gave the mantle to her. She was forcibly betrothed to the new Daimyo's son. Himawari had been devastated, and slowly grew mad over time. Naruto and Hinata did not agree with the match, but they could not disobey the daimyo; there would have been huge consequences that would have eventually led to war.

It didn't help that Boruto swore to kill the rich noble. As the Hokage's husband, Boruto really shouldn't go around saying these things, but Sarada understood—he was definitely right to be angry.

His baby sister had been forcibly married, her sanity and freedom taken away. It was a tragedy.

Sarada had sent one of her finest Chunin, Akira, to defuse the situation immediately after one of her shinobi had reported Lady Himawari sitting on the edge of a tall building, staring into the depths. Akira was only paralyzed due to a last minute burst of chakra from one of his unclosed tenketsu, but Himawari was not so lucky.

Sarada's predecessor, Himawari's father and Seventh Hokage Uzumaki Naruto was very unhappy. Like his son, he agreed that they should take up arms against the daimyo, but that was not possible if Sarada was trying to avoid war.

 _Why do we pretend the daimyo have all the power in the world, when one of our Genin could probably kill him in a one against one battle?_ It was the first time Sarada grew wary of the Seventh. Naruto had never given her a reason to be wary of him, but what he spoke of was treason.

Himawari left five children, the oldest being her twelve year old son, Neji. He had been devastated. The poor boy was not even a Genin yet.

"I see," Sarada finally replied. "Akira, I know you like children, and would have become a fine Jonin sensei one day." Akira flinched at the mention of something he would never be now.

"Would you like to be a Chunin academy instructor instead?"

Given a new purpose, Akira's eyes began to light with cautious hope. "I'll… I'll think about it, sensei."

"Take all the time you need. Konoha still needs fine people like you." Sarada stood up, and turned to leave. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. There _are_ perks to being the Hokage's student, you know."

"I will."

"Your family will be coming soon. They're worried about you."

"Mm."

Sarada exited the room, and saw Akira's father Hatake Obito pushing a wheelchair with Kakashi, Obito's father, still in it. Kakashi was still a perverted old man, but Anko had tamed him well in regards to their son.

On Obito's left was Akira's eldest brother, Tatsuo, and on his left was Akira's second oldest brother, Asuma. Mirai Sarutobi, Obito's wife and mother of three boys, were marching at the front.

"Hokage-sama, how is my son?" she seemed incredibly worried.

"I offer my condolences. He has no use of his legs," Sarada admitted grimly as the woman began to sob uncontrollably. "Mirai-san, do not worry for his future. I made him consider a position at the academy as a teacher. If he accepts, he will do brilliantly. Shino-san will appreciate help with the students. I am also at your service should you require anything."

Obito nodded solemnly. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi gave a small smile, although nobody could see under his mask.

The Hatake family entered Akira's room, and Sarada sighed before returning to her boring office.


	2. Chapter 2: The Next Generation

**It's nearly midnight, so I'm going to post this quick and continue writing in around a week or so. My school enjoys torturing me with work, so I probably won't be free until the end of the week.**

 **Toodles.**

* * *

 _June – Rokugatsu –_ _六月_

SHIKAKEN I

"Shikaken, pay attention!"

 _Troublesome._

By the time his teacher had called on him, he had already memorized the hand seals written neatly across the book he was reading.

"What is the name of the second tailed beast, and which hidden village traditionally owns it?"

"Matatabi, the two tailed cat. Was given to Kumogakure by the decree of the first Hokage Senju Hashirama. Former Jinchuriki was Yugito of Kumogakure, current Jinchuriki unknown." He added the last part to show off a bit, but in reality, his mind was still on the jutsu.

His least favourite teacher scowled at the near perfect response, but he continued teaching.

 _Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger._

As soon as the bell rung, Shikaken snapped his book shut, stuffed it in the unique mess he called a school bag, slung it over his shoulder, and took off in a rush.

His younger twin sister Shikara had followed him, being the only one able to keep up with his occasional insane actions.

Shikaken had always been obsessed with jutsu. It was the only thing he really worked hard on, perfecting the three academy jutsu. To him, it was simply fascinating how spending a few years of effort into the techniques, so he could use them without hand seals, could make him practically unpredictable when doing them.

But three dumbed down techniques befitting of a ten-year-old was certainly not enough for him. Yes, he had a traditional clan technique, the Shadow Possession. He had mastered it too, but he wanted something flashy like many famous shinobi before him.

"'Ra-chan, we're going to the lake."

Shikara followed him without question, and together, they went to the docks. Shimmering waters reflected the afternoon sun. Glowing golds and blues swam across his vision.

"I'm going to try a new jutsu today," he announced.

 _Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger!_

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A fireball the size of a fully grown stallion erupted out of his mouth and roared across the lake. However, a few seconds into the technique, he saw black erode into the edge of his vision, and it all blurred out.

 _I fucked up._

* * *

SATOSHI I

"I wonder where those two are going," Inokin remarked. The Yamanaka heir was a lean blond with the traditional ponytail.

Satoshi snorted. "Probably off to do something ridiculous, knowing Shikaken."

Satoshi was a result of carefully selected political marriages between a former ROOT ANBU named Tenzo and the last of the Senju, who had become civilians and generally declined in population. With advancing technology, they were able to create children that all inherited the Wood Release Bloodline.

As Tenzo was his grandfather, he had close ties with the Hatake clan. Akira was his older brother of some sorts, and it saddened him when news spread that he would no longer be a shinobi on the active duty roster.

"Did you see what he was reading?" Inokin asked curiously.

"No," Satoshi admitted.

A red-haired boy behind them helpfully supplied a much needed answer. "He was reading up on Katon elemental techniques."

"Thank you, Minato." Minato was the son of the Hokage and the former Hokage's son, Sarada and Boruto. Being blessed with his Sharingan awakening at an early age, Sarada passed a law that allowed him to continue the Uchiha line instead of being an Uzumaki, which he was by birth.

"So yes, probably something stupid." Uzumaki Mito scoffed beside her twin brother Minato. "Everyone knows Naras don't have enough chakra to do most elemental jutsu."

"You shouldn't criticize him. At least he's trying to learn something, unlike you." Minato and Mito's youngest brother, ten-year-old Itachi, was a sarcastic little prodigy. A bit on the short end, but he definitely wasn't short in brains to have made it two years ahead of his peers.

"Shut up, Itachi!"

Inokin sighed. The Hokage's children were a boisterous bunch. Well, mainly Mito was. The Seventh Hokage was often proud at how his granddaughter resembled him when he was a young shinobi, right down to the blonde hair, baby blue eyes, loudness and even whisker marks that her Uchiha brothers did not inherit.

"We're taking the graduation exam in three days," Choryu said, worried. "If he knocks himself out now, he might miss it."

Inokin shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it. If he wants to graduate, he'll find a way."

"There are also re-tests for those who get sick near that day," Satoshi added. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Let's hope. I'd rather be on a team with Shikaken than one of the fangirls." It wasn't that the fangirls liked Inokin, but they were mostly incompetent.

Thankfully, most of them were weeded out by the time graduation happened. With the Seventh and Eighth Hokages' work, higher quality Konoha shinobi were trained by the academy nowadays.

Before anyone could comment or leave for home, however, a bright orange flashed outside near the lake.

Inokin sweatdropped. "There goes his chances."

* * *

SHIKAKEN II

When Shikaken awoke, everything was white.

"This is new," a familiar voice remarked. "I've never seen a Nara try out anything other than the clan jutsu at this age."

"Grandfather," Shikaken mumbled.

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome kids… You've got to increase your chakra levels first before you try anything again. That drain could have killed you."

"Even Itachi only got a fireball as big as him on his first try," Shikaken argued. "Mine was as big as a horse."

"The Uchiha naturally have more chakra. Yours' was bigger because you had better chakra control. Now that Itachi-kun is in a team, he will learn chakra control, and eventually surpass you on that front."

He didn't like the sound of that. He wasn't great in Taijutsu, his Genjutsu wasn't too good either, and the only thing he had going for him was his shurikenjutsu, mastered three academy jutsu and a single mastered clan jutsu. Even though it might have been quite a good achievement at that age, it was balanced out.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Shikaken noticed a squiggly thing on his right arm. "What's this?"

"I got the Seventh Hokage to help you. Called in a favor from a while ago… anyway, it's a special chakra level evaluation seal. It tells you how much chakra you have when you're full up. It's measured in the amount you need to produce a fireball, so right about now, you have half of the required chakra to produce a full-sized fireball."

Shikaken's eyes widened. "That wasn't even a full sized one?"

Shikamaru grinned. "The diameter of a full-sized one is around the height of three stallions stacked on top of each other. You're around a third of the way to not killing yourself with a full-sized one. As for how to increase chakra levels, you should probably ask a ninjutsu specialist, and not me. I was always a bit low on the chakra front."

"I will. Thank you, grandfather."

"Ja ne."

He left. Before long, he grew bored, and started looking around the room.

A calendar displayed the date.

 _June 30_ _th_

It was then Shikaken realized how fucked he was for the Genin graduation exam that was supposedly taking place tomorrow.

"Oh, shit!"


	3. Chapter 3: The Genin Exams

**So, my father fell down the stairs on Monday at about one in the morning.**

 **He got concussed and started vomiting at dawn, and my mum had to call in the paramedics to ship him to the hospital.**

 **The doctor says he's fine; initial worries about the chances of skull fracture were unfounded and he's back home now.**

 **After another hectic day, here's another chapter.**

 **Good day.**

* * *

 _July – Shichigatsu –_ _七月_

SASUKE I

"Neji, how're you feeling?"

Neji grunted an incoherent response. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

After what happened to Himawari, the only thing Sasuke could do for his best friend was to act like he normally would.

"Fine, be that way."

His mother was one of the stronger Jonin Sarutobi Konohamaru's daughter. His mother was a ferocious kunoichi, but soon died giving birth to him after she married her father's student, Mitsuki.

It meant he was a direct descendant of the infamous nuke-nin Orochimaru. It was a daunting thought, and personally, Sasuke had never met the man, but he knew his namesake, the first Sarutobi Sasuke would have rolled in his grave knowing Orochimaru's grandson would bear their name.

He always considered himself more of a Sarutobi, though. He _was_ the heir, after all. His grandfather Konohamaru had brought him up as one, and made sure that other than his allegedly creepy yellow eyes, he had inherited nothing of Orochimaru's of note.

Neji and the rest of his siblings recently moved in to the Uzumaki compound, a relatively new clan compound that had been improved upon the shockingly undamaged compound that the first Uzumaki Mito had occupied during her lifetime. Uzumaki seals had held up extremely well, it would seem.

The Sarutobi compound was also quite close to the improved Uzumaki compound, as well as the Senju compound, so Neji now walked with Sasuke to the academy.

As soon as they entered the doors of their classroom, they gaped at the condition of the Nara clan heir, who looked ragged and tired.

"Shikaken, what happened to you?" Sasuke asked.

"Have you not heard? This idiot got himself locked in the hospital for two and a half days from chakra exhaustion." Inokin snorted. Shikaken glared at his best friend before returning to his school textbooks.

"Considering I've been shut in my room revising for the past week aside from school weekday hours, no, I haven't." Neji crossed his arms.

"Shut your mouths. I'm revising; I hadn't had any time to do so in the past week, so excuse me."

"It's not like you need to revise, 'Ken." Shikara looked over her brother's shoulder. "You already know all of this."

"In theory, I know it. In practice, I don't."

"Then what's the point of reading words when you need improvement in the practical part?"

"Hoping?"

"Alright, everyone." The oldest academy teacher, Aburame Shino, had walked into the room. Although he was not loud in any way, his very presence commanded authority.

Sasuke saw Shikaken hastily put away his notes and quickly turned to face the front. Even though Shikaken mostly ignored his teachers, he did not ignore the old veteran.

"Today will hopefully be your last day as an academy student, and as Genin hopefuls," he began. "Also joining us today will be Hatake Akira, apprentice sensei in training."

Akira gave a shallow bow, as polite as he could in a wheel chair. "Pleased to meet you."

"Today's schedule will be jam-packed. The first exam today will be a paper exam. Please put your bags in the usual cupboards, and check your pockets before entering the exam hall. Only clear pencilcases will be allowed into the exam hall. Please be quiet from this moment on. Again, total silence will be expected inside the exam hall. Good luck."

The students shuffled towards the exit to the classroom. Sasuke hastily stuffed his bag in his usual cupboard, but not before grabbing his green, plastic, see-through pencilcase. Checking his pockets, he put all his personal belongings along with the bag, and locked the cupboard.

"Good luck, Neji," he whispered.

"You too."

He was ready to die.

* * *

SHIKAKEN III

 _Questions, questions, questions._

 _The math here is actually comparatively easy. There's at least proper formulas you can remember, and not the kind of bullshit that you have to think of on the spot._

 _Oh, god. Here comes the 'practical' field strategy part._

Shikaken groaned inwardly. He was able to do improvisation strategies better than most for the most part, but it wasn't really his favourite subject.

 ** _You are the leader of a team captured by an extremely strong enemy ninja who wants information from you. The enemy shinobi orders you to offer up information willingly and convince the other members of your team to do the same, or be thrown into a Genjutsu where you are forced to kill your teammates over and over until you reveal information. You have a strong emotional connection to your teammates. Write down your solution in the lines below._**

 _Oh, fuck me._

Shikaken twiddled his thumbs, analyzing the hidden meaning of the question, and scratched the surface paint of his pencil, before picking it up and answering.

 _I would struggle first to rid the enemy of any suspicions of my true motives. I will then go to my teammates under the guise of convincing them to give up information while actually relaying a plan to them in Konoha's secret hand signs. While on the surface I would be signing to them to all go forth towards the enemy pretending to be submissive, I would speak things the enemy shinobi would want to hear, such as an 'attempt' at convincing my teammates to reveal information. When we are all gathered before the enemy, we will work as a team to bring down the enemy shinobi._

 _It's completely loaded with subtle teamwork cues,_ Shikaken thought, amused. _Next question._

The silence in the hall was highly unnerving. Regardless, Shikaken finished the paper in half the given time, triple checking it before handing it in and getting out to prepare for his next exam in about an hour's time.

He knew he probably wasn't going to make a very good grade in the Taijutsu part, but he could at least try to refine his other skills before entering the exam.

Returning to his old classroom, only he was there. He went to the front of the classroom in front of the teacher's desk, sat down on the floor, and began meditating for a few minutes.

After the minutes were over, he reopened his eyes to see Shikara waiting for him. "How was it?"

"It went alright. I won't claim it was great in case it backfires on me though."

Shikara scoffed. "Don't worry, I think it's highly unlikely you'll get anything lower than a 95%."

"Murphy's Law," he reminded her. "Anyway, I'm going to practice my extra credit Ninjutsu some more."

"Are you doing the clan technique?"

"Mm. I've nearly gotten it to split to three targets now."

"I can only do two," Shikara sighed.

"You'll get it someday," he assured her. "Well, wish me luck…"

He began concentrating on his chakra. Having mastered the jutsu halfway through the academy, he was able to use it without a single hand seal since he was nine years old. He began branching the shadow only recently, though.

Imagining the Ram seal in his head, he began drawing out his chakra and stared at his shadow intently as it began to move smoother and smoother. It became less difficult to maneuver as time passed, and now, he could make it speed around the floor like a particularly fast snake.

Retracting the shadow until it was just below his feet, he began splitting it. Splitting once, then twice, then a third time. Three shadow branches then weaved around to make a three-string friendship bracelet pattern Shikara had taught him how to make when they were children.

Shikara grinned. "Shikaken, I thought you told me that was too girly for boys?"

"It's good for practice. It's difficult to concentrate on three targets at once."

After the Nara clan hiden was the academy three.

Without a word or move, he substituted with his pen that he put on the floor. He then produced three clones without any chakra wasted from residue smoke, and immediately changed both him and the clones into perfect copies of Shikara, Inokin, Satoshi and Choryu.

The real him spoke to Shikara. "Tell me if I look and sound convincing."

The clone with Shikara's face put his hands in his pockets, feet together like a stalking feline, and had a sinister smirk on his face.

"Perfect. It's like looking at myself in a mirror with the expressions."

The clone that looked like Inokin slouched, and had a tired look.

"A bit more of that slouch."

Choryu's image pulled out a dango stick and began eating.

"That's perfect. No questions asked."

Finally, Satoshi's copy had a confused look upon his face, and was a bit too relaxed.

"Hm, no. Try ogling a bit more."

"Satoshi doesn't ogle at you."

"He does, occasionally."

Shikaken shrugged.

Soon, students began to file in, chattering about the exam.

Another academy teacher walked in.

"The next part will be Shurikenjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu and finally, Ninjutsu."

Mito gave a superior smirk to Shikaken, who coolly glared at her.

The class went outside to get their Shurikenjutsu evaluated.

"As you may know already, the Shurikenjutsu section is out of a hundred points. You get zero points if your kunai does not hit the target, one on the outermost ring, five on the middle ring, ten on the bulls-eye, and so on. When you are ready, you may begin."

Shikaken grabbed a set of ten kunai, and began throwing as soon as the instructors said he could.

The first hit the second most inner ring. The second hit a bulls-eye, and so did the third. The fourth went a bit off kilter, which frustrated Shikaken, but the fifth went a bit more accurate into the second most inner ring again. The sixth and seventh were on the line between the second most inner ring and the bulls-eye, and the eighth, ninth and tenth kunai all hit the bulls-eye.

"Five bulls-eyes, four second rings and one third ring. That counts up to ninety-four out of a hundred points. Congratulations, Shikaken, you pass."

Shikaken gave a shallow bow before leaving.

There was no time to dwell on his results as the last students finished off and began being partnered up by the teachers for the Taijutsu part.

 _Fucking fuck._

"You will be grouped according to your average grades in Taijutsu, and you will fight everyone in your group until a clear leaderboard has been established."

Each group had four members. Embarrassingly, Shikaken was grouped with two civilians who were considered 'unlikely to pass', and some rich merchant's kid who only got in due to his wealth. However, their group was only second worst. The four students below them were even worse.

Shikaken had his pride bruised, but under no circumstances was he going to lose to three civilian background children.

"First match, Tanaka Ryo versus Inoue Hana. Hajime!"

The first match was relatively plain. Ryo won the match after a bunch of rookie mistakes that Shikaken found helpful to silently point out to himself.

"Second match, Nara Shikaken versus Wagarashi Ren. Hajime!"

Shikaken slipped into the snake stance and began planning. Ren was definitely stronger than he was, but he was much, much faster. Although he wasn't skilled at Taijutsu in any way, he should be able to deal with him through pure speed.

Ren was strong, but slow. Shikaken only needed to dash behind him and land a kick to the back of his opponent.

"Winner, Nara Shikaken."

Shikaken began appraising his next opponent. Ryo was more agile, but not by far the fastest.

"Third match, Nara Shikaken versus Tanaka Ryo. Hajime!"

Surprisingly, Ryo did not falter even when Shikaken landed a blow to his flank, which Ryo had blocked. The boy had surprised him with his strength, but he would not be caught off guard again.

Shikaken's blows were not quite strong enough to knock out Ryo in one shot like he did Ren. His hits were on point and fast, but too weak to make much of a difference.

However, both began tiring out, and before long, Ryo gave up and collapsed.

"Winner, Nara Shikaken."

His grade was predetermined to be within the twenty-fourth to twenty-eighth place, but he had secured twenty-fourth place in the leaderboards.

Thank Kami. The seventy fifth percentile wasn't as bad as he thought he would get.

Next was Genjutsu. For some odd reason, Shikaken didn't have enough focus to put up a convincing Genjutsu. However, he had trained enough to break most basic ones.

"I can't use Genjutsu properly," he said bluntly to the instructor. "I can, however, detect and break one."

The Chunin nodded and casted a basic Genjutsu. Things blurred, objects were not where they should have been. Yellows became more vibrant, blues shrunk into dots, reds swam across the yellows like molten Sulphur.

Shikaken did not even need a seal as he made his chakra condense outwards into a pulse. "Kai."

The Genjutsu dispersed.

The Chunin nodded again in approval. "You pass, but your inability to perform one will cost you some points."

Shikaken gave a curt nod and exited.

Finally, Ninjutsu!

He cracked his knuckles and entered the room.

"You know what to do, Shikaken." Shino was already there, sitting at the desk, along with two Chunin instructors. "Three academy jutsu, and an optional Ninjutsu for extra points. You may take any item in this room for substitution."

"Got it, Shino-sensei." Shikaken took a gulp of air and focused.

He imagined the seals in his head. Finally picturing Inokin, he transformed and flickered into a perfect copy of his best friend. No chakra residue smoke, no seals.

"You have mastered the jutsu," Shino stated. "Extra points will be added. Have you mastered the others?"

Shikaken smirked. Without a word, he threw a shuriken at the wall and substituted with the flying object. The shuriken continued flying towards his direction even after he threw it, but he caught it between two fingers. Again, no residue smoke, and no seals.

Shino looked slightly impressed. Well, he probably was very impressed, but his demeanor would not show it too much. The two Chunin were pleasantly surprised.

Shikaken then created three perfect clones. They looked healthy, weren't discoloured, and they were functional as illusions. Shino nodded.

"Do you have any additional Ninjutsu you would like to show us?"

"I also mastered the Shadow Possession Jutsu."

"Go ahead."

Shikaken's shadow suddenly darkened without warning and split into three. Catching the three clones he made, he spun around in a circle before turning to face the judges.

"Excellent use of clan techniques. No handseals needed either. Nara Shikaken, you pass Ninjutsu with full marks and extra credit. You pass overall. Results will be announced during team circulation." Shino gave a rare smile. "Go on and choose your hitai-ate, and then you may go."

Shikaken allowed a small smirk to surface before bowing and choosing a dark green hitai-ate. Tying it around his arm before leaving, he noted to himself that it was probably time for a wardrobe change.

* * *

"Team Seven, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Minato, and Uzumaki Mito. Your sensei will be Hatake Tatsuo."

"Team Eight, Hyuga Neji, Sarutobi Sasuke, and Senju Satoshi. Your sensei will be Uzumaki Boruto."

"Team Nine, Aburame Shiko, Akimichi Choryu, and Inuzuka Kuroba. Your sensei will be Hatake Asuma." Shikaken frowned. Choryu wasn't in his team?

"Team Ten, Yamanaka Inokin—"

Shikaken's fists clenched.

 _Kami please don't be one of Minato's fangirls and the two of us…_

"Nara Shikaken—"

"Yes!"

"—and Nara Shikara. Your sensei will be Mitsuki."

The revelations slightly disappointed Shikaken, not because Shikara was in his team—in fact, he had no problems with the fact his sister would be on his team—they worked well together, and in sync, but…

"Shino-sensei, doesn't that break the Ino-Shika-Cho tradition?"

 _Damn, and I spent all that time training with Choryu for possible team formations. Now, we'll need to make that shit up all over again._

Shino acknowledged his question. "Yes. Hokage-sama felt it necessary to make reforms to how teams are put together. If you wish to know more, you may ask your father."

Shikaken nodded, satisfied with the brief answer. He made a note to himself to ask his father about the odd teams later.

Soon, a pale man with odd, light blue hair came to pick them up. Shikaken couldn't help but glance over to Sasuke. Their eyes were identical—the same shade of bright yellow.

"My name is Mitsuki, and I am here to pick up Team Ten." He looked at the class expectantly. He was the earliest sensei to arrive. "Please meet me at training ground ten in five minutes."

Shikaken, Inokin and Shikara got off their seats.

"Five minutes? Troublesome…"

Shikara lightly cuffed him on the head. "Come on, no time to waste. At least it's not too far from here."

Inokin only shrugged as the three took off.

* * *

Now, they were all gathered, sat on quite a large tree stump.

Shikaken could feel the awkwardness. Mitsuki still had not spoken a word.

Glancing away from the team, he focused on analyzing the environment instead. Best way to avoid an awkward start… or enhance the awkwardness.

Mitsuki finally decided to speak as he clapped his hands together. "Why don't we introduce ourselves first?"

"How about you introduce yourself first, as an example?" Inokin requested genially.

"Well… My name is Mitsuki. I like scrambled eggs, and I dislike people who treat snakes badly. I enjoy playing card games as a hobby. I don't really have a dream." He glanced over to Shikara. "Ladies first?"

Shikara had an evil look on her face. "I'm no lady. Anyway… My name is Nara Shikara. I like fire, and I hate… a lot of people. I enjoy watching other people squirm. My dream is to get a summoning contract."

Inokin went next, mainly because Shikaken had no intent to be next. "I'm Yamanaka Inokin. I like potatoes… I dislike… things. I enjoy sleeping, and I don't know what my dream is yet."

Mitsuki glanced and stared at Shikaken expectantly.

"Hm… My name is Nara Shikaken. I like some people. I really, really hate most people, especially traitors. I like sleeping and my dream is to pass away in my sleep, however unlikely that is."

Shikaken did not mention his passion for Ninjutsu, nor did he mention that he could not live without eggs as a part of his staple diet. He did not mention his absolute favourite food was sushi, a food he only ate when he was upset, or on special occasions. He did not mention his terror of large bodies of water, or of heights from the skyscrapers of Konoha.

He caught onto Inokin's clever wording. Inokin did not mention any particular dislikes that could be used against him. In fact, the only dislikes, or 'hates', that any of them mentioned was a strong sense of misanthropy that ran through the Nara siblings like birth-instinct.

And, should Mitsuki be surprised by his like for Ninjutsu, then he would suck as a Jonin. Anyone, especially a Jonin sensei of the subject, could simply read his file and know that he had been slacking in Genjutsu and Taijutsu, with obvious bias towards the art of Ninjutsu.

If he did not know that already, he probably wasn't qualified. It doesn't take rocket science to simply do some light research and read a few statistics.

Mitsuki smiled a smile that sent alarm bells ringing in his head. As a Jonin being stuck with three brats, he should _not_ be smiling.

No, not at all.

If he was smiling, the only thing that meant for the three of them was pain.

A lot of it.

After all, Mitsuki wasn't famed for having a gentle personality. Being the Hokage's teammate and an S-ranked nuke-nin's son made it impossible for the man to be a complete unknown.

Mitsuki was one of the first few of the Hokage's generation to become a Jonin, courtesy of his refined skill for espionage. A perfect sensei for a recon team, but Shikaken still had yet to figure out why he was teaching a supposedly 'capture and interrogate' team instead.

With a jolt, Shikaken realized something crucial.

Perhaps, they _were_ the recon team.

It wouldn't be impossible for a team to specialize in both reconnaissance and interrogation. Both were related to intelligence, and the only difference was whether or not the situation was confrontational.

Inokin was good, and was always good at gathering his huge repertoire of blackmail, written into a little black notebook with photograph evidence included, named the 'Book of Truth'. A golden hand was imprinted onto the surface, and it was Inokin's most favored treasure.

He would be a perfect recon agent.

As for Shikara, her sadistic tendencies tended to scare young children, and even some seasoned adults.

As for himself, Shikaken didn't have any particular interest in doing the dirty work himself, but he occasionally interfered with events, such as threatening Choryu's bullies with blackmail procured from Inokin's precious notebook.

Of course, aside from Inokin's father and his closest friends, nobody knew of the existence of the seemingly innocent child's notebook. All of them assumed Shikaken did the work himself, but in reality, it really wasn't true.

Shikaken did not have the ability to find the blackmail, but the way he used the blackmail was highly effective. Psychological warfare was a hobby of his', not that he'd ever reveal such an important trait.

And of course, with two Nara clan members on a team, the 'capture' part was pretty obvious when it came to specialization. Their shadows were highly effective when it came to capturing prisoners, not to mention Inokin's special clan hiden made capture rates raise towards imminent and inevitable success.

However, one thing Shikaken questioned was the fact a continually successful team formation, the Ino-Shika-Cho, was discontinued. It might be because Choryu was switched to another team to become a last resort frontline fighter to defend the other members of the tracker team—who knew, really, aside from the Hokage?

Shikaken turned his attention back to his teacher, who still had the disturbing smile on his face.

"Hm. Fun fact… There's another test. Fun fact number two… it's highly likely only one or two of you will be passing today."

The Nara heir cringed at his sister's shrill yell.

"WHAT?!"

Mitsuki's smile did not wane. "Yes. The pass rate is 66.67%." he further explained by jumping off his position from the top of the training post. He grabbed an alarm clock, a classic double bell, and placed it on a stump. "The clock is set for eight at night. This evening, you will be stealing bells—" he shook them around slightly, making a jingle, "from me."

Inokin narrowed his eyes. Shikaken simply sat there, unperturbed, whilst Shikara silently raged on.

"Whoever does not get a bell will not have dinner. The rest of us will also eat dinner in front of you."

A rumble from Shikaken's stomach made him pale a little. He only had half an apple for lunch, and he was hungry already. At this rate, he would have little energy to complete the test.

"Why are there only two bells?" came Inokin's very intelligent question.

"That means that at least one of you will not get dinner." Mitsuki's smile became more and more malicious by the minute. "Whoever fails to get a bell… will fail, and return to the academy. You won't get one unless you come at me… with the intent to kill."

Thankfully, none of them had an intelligent 'but that's dangerous' reply to that statement.

"Coming from a guy with neon light blue hair who sticks out like a sore thumb." Shikaken deliberately decided to provoke the man, if only to get a response.

"Now, now… I wouldn't be so hasty. Your Taijutsu is abysmal, even for a Nara."

'Shikaken' looked angry at the insult to both him and his clan. Well, the clone of his', with excellent acting and all. The clone charged at Mitsuki, but the Jonin caught the clone.

"I didn't say start yet."

Before he could, however, the clone passed right through him.

After all, normal clones were just simple illusions. It was about the only pseudo-Genjutsu technique Shikaken could make.

Real Shikaken was hidden in the trees, waiting to strike.

Shikara didn't seem surprised in the least, while Inokin only rolled his eyes.

"Well… Might as well start now. Ready… Start."

For a split second, Shikaken went into panic mode as he whipped his head around to analyze his surroundings. He then calmed himself.

 _I'm in the forest, with good shadow connections, reducing chakra use for my hiden. The man would be vulnerable coming in here, but if he does, I'm not complaining._ Shikaken took a deep breath. _Even if we hide, he_ is _a famous Jonin. I wouldn't put it past him to be able to find and capture us within a minute, even if we used all our strength against him._

Shikara and Inokin hid well, but they were no match for a Jonin.

 _But what's the point of the test if we aren't going to ever get close to him—shit!_

Mitsuki did not give him time to think as a barrage of weapons came at him from all directions. Some re-directed by others, the weapons came from all three hundred and sixty degrees, all the way round. From behind, from the front, from the left, from the right, even from above.

 _Is he trying to seriously kill me?!_

Shikaken snarled and focused, finishing a replacement technique just in time for the log to be turned into a wooden pincushion.

"Oh? Seal-less Kawarimi. Impressive for a Genin."

Heart racing, he quickly ran through the scenarios in his head.

He did not have nearly enough information to form an actual good plan. Not without the previous formations he'd practiced with Choryu and Inokin—

His eyes widened, and his expression contorted into a grim one. Throwing a pebble and substituting with the tiny stone, he ran off into the forest to give himself more time to think.

 _All of our formations were done under the assumption that three were in a team, along with a fourth member that would be the team captain._

 _The famous Team Tobirama. The Legendary Sannin. Team Kakashi, consisting of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and the famous Nanadaime Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto. Many, many generations of Ino-Shika-Cho trios. Even Mitsuki himself, he was in a three man cell, Team Konohamaru._

 _There's no way a two man cell would be allowed just for us. We're not special enough for that._

Hopping through the trees, he began analyzing again. Why would Mitsuki lie?

 _Of course he'd lie. The first move is always a feint…_

Shikaken slapped his head in realization. _I'm a fucking idiot._

He had planned to run towards his sister and friend, before Mitsuki jumped right in the way.

"Ho, it seems you have figured it out. However, I cannot have you interfering. The others must realize it themselves… the hard way."

One look into those bright yellow eyes, and the trees, the dirt, the sky, all spiraled into one massive green glob around the two yellow dots.

Sounds muffled, and Shikaken felt as if he was falling.

Forever.

* * *

When he came to, the smell of dirt mixed with fresh air disappeared to give way to the smell of fresh water.

 _…_ _What?_

Shikaken got up. It felt like hours, but checking his music player, it was only fifteen minutes since he was caught in the Genjutsu.

 _…_ _Troublesome._

He got up and dusted off his clothes before coming up with a plan of action. There was still around two hours and forty five minutes left, if he was frugal with his time. His water bottle had spilled into a puddle close to his head, which was where the scent of fresh water came from.

He grabbed his weapons pouch, making sure everything was there. Thankfully, Mitsuki had decided to leave him with his items and weapons.

 _Damn, I should've known._

 _The key is teamwork!_

Gritting his teeth, he decided to follow the tracks of Mitsuki (which he no doubt intentionally left behind) to find his teammates. Somehow, they must pass.

He saw Shikara fighting with Mitsuki, raw, angry looking chakra radiating from her fists. He nearly gaped in awe at the raw power his sister wielded.

Shaking his head, he began to look for Inokin. There was no way Shikara was able to hold Mitsuki for longer than five minutes, which meant Mitsuki had dealt with Inokin already.

Turning around a corner, he saw his blond friend on the forest floor, gasping for breath. As soon as the blond saw him, his guard rose.

"What, deer got your tongue?" Shikaken scoffed. "Get up. I can't believe it took me minutes to realize this, but we have to work together to get the bells."

"But only two can pass, if there are two bells," Inokin said, confused.

Shikaken dismissively waved his hand. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Let's help 'Ra-chan."

Shikaken whispered the plan into Inokin's ears.

"Got it," Inokin muttered.

Carefully, Shikaken snuck up into a tree with Inokin. Concentrating hard, he glared at the bells tied on the waist of his teacher. There was a risk that the Mitsuki he was seeing could be a clone, but he had a plan B just in case.

He rushed into the fray and switched places with the two bells. He immediately punched Mitsuki in the gut, and a puff of smoke erupted as the shadow clone disappeared, as well as the shadow cloned bells.

"Figures," Shikaken muttered. "'Ra-chan." He then proceeded to tell his sister in the change of plans.

"Right."

"Inokin, can you scout for his location?"

The blond nodded and possessed a bird nearby. Flying around in a seemingly random manner, he caught sight of the man in a small clearing in the forest.

Returning to his body, he jumped up. "A hundred metres at four o' clock. Follow me."

They dashed towards Mitsuki, with Inokin in the lead.

Shikaken surrounded the clearing with shadows, and began to close down on Mitsuki. Mitsuki jumped up in the air, and began trying to avoid the shadows.

Unfortunately for Mitsuki, Shikaken had already found out the Chunin-level theory of third dimension shadows. Shadows of fourth dimensional objects would be third dimensional, causing shadows to appear as a third dimensional object, meaning Shikaken could catch him with his shadows, even in the air.

Mitsuki was sneaky and difficult to capture, as well as to maintain capture. However, as moving anywhere in the air without an adjacent object to bounce off of is virtually impossible, Shikaken's shadows had already caught him.

"Inokin! Now!" he yelled.

Inokin swiftly raised his hands into a seal that resembled a window as Shikaken guarded his now unconscious friend. Taking over Mitsuki for the five seconds enough for Shikara to go in and snatch the bells hanging from his belt, Shikara got away to a safe distance as Inokin was forced out of his target's head.

"Got it!"

Mitsuki looked vaguely impressed. He walked towards them.

"And who will pass? You may only pass with a bell."

Shikaken walked away, intent on finding something. Shikara gave a bell to Inokin, as both smirked.

Shikaken had a wide, mischievous grin on his face, but as he was turned away from the group, none of them saw. He picked up the clock resting on the tree stump, only seconds away from the alarm. The setting sun reflected on the metal bells built into the clock.

 _RIIIIIING._

An annoying, consistent ringing blared into their ears. Shikaken turned around, giving a wide smirk.

"I believe this counts as a pass, sensei. I, after all, have a bell—in fact, I have two bells."

 _Hah, take that, sucker._

Mitsuki gave a smile and clapped. "Very impressive loophole, Shikaken-kun. Very well, all three of you pass."

Shikara cheered, and Shikaken collapsed in a heap.

"Gotta go eat," Shikaken mumbled.

Mitsuki gave a small laugh. "Come on, if you keep up, I might treat you to kakigori."

Shikaken grinned at the prospect. "Yes, let's."

* * *

After BBQ and kakigori, the three returned home. Inokin separated with his other two teammates a while before the Nara twins returned to the clan compound.

"Tadaima!"

"Okaeri," their father answered noncommittally. He was casually reading whilst sat at the traditional chabudai.

The Nara compound was still rather traditional when it came to furniture, a huge difference from the new combined Uzumaki compound, built upon part of the deserted Uchiha clan land after Naruto had retired from the position. It was split into two sections, the Uzumaki section and the Uchiha section; it was agreed upon, as Boruto had married Sarada, and it was quite convenient. The old Uzumaki compound, the one the Seventh still lived in, was closer to the Sarutobi and Senju compounds. Only Boruto and Sarada and their children lived in the combined compound.

However, as Naruto did not grow up in a traditional setting, he much preferred modern furniture. So, both the old and the new Uzumaki compounds were much like any other kind of modern home, except both were quite a bit bigger.

Shikaken had only been there a few times during Mito, Minato and Itachi's huge birthday parties, but he was still surprised at the normality of the former Hokage's estate.

Shikara yawned, jolting Shikaken out of his thoughts. "I'm gonna shower and go to bed. Good night, 'Ken."

"Night, 'Ra-chan. I'll be staying up for a while longer."

He sat down at the table, his father not looking up. He continued to read until Shikaken broke the silence.

"Why was I not placed with Choryu?"

"Who knows," Shikadai shrugged as he turned a page. "The Eighth does a lot of questionable, but effective things."

Shikaken narrowed his eyes at his father. "You know."

"I know," he agreed. "I don't really like it, but it is what it is."

"Then can you tell me?"

Shikadai looked up from his book. "What can you tell me about your team?"

Shikaken sobered up. "I'm fairly good at Ninjutsu. I can do them without the use of seals, which makes me suitable for capture or assassination. Perhaps even stealth and espionage. Shikara's… tendencies make her a suitable candidate to the next head of Torture and Interrogation. Inokin is very good at gathering intelligence. I have no idea what else to say."

His father shuffled in his seat, clearly troubled. "Hokage-sama said she wants you three to take up important positions in the future," Shikadai muttered. "You as Jonin Commander and Head Strategist, Shikara as Head of Torture and Interrogation, and Inokin as ANBU commander."

Shikaken's head spun at the revelation. A pit of anger swallowed his rational mind. "Don't we get to choose what we want to do?" he hissed.

"No," Shikadai responded bluntly. "As nice as Konoha looks, we're still at heart a military-based village. The Hokage's word is law."

Rationality and rage fought for control. "I can't do anything about that, I suppose." Shikaken cooled off. "But mark my words, I'll do everything I can to spite the road that's been planned for me." He stalked off to take a shower. Perhaps a nice, freezing shower could cool down his hot anger.

Shikadai sighed. "Troublesome," he mumbled as he returned to his book.

"Anata, you better not be reading Icha-Icha!" his wife yelled from the kitchen.

Shikadai paled, and shut his book. "Hai!"


	4. Chapter 4: Training

**Hello, world.**

 **No, I'm not dead. Some shit hit the fan along the way and now I have to deal with about seven fucking essays before the end of the week. One's a Chinese essay that requires 4800 words, but at least I'm almost done.**

 **I don't know how I'm getting an average of seven hours of sleep a night, but I'm significantly more organized than I was last year, which is both a relief and a surprise.**

 **As I've mentioned probably around once or twice before, I have a disease. It fucks with my metabolism and makes it a lot slower than the average, and I didn't read the report fully because I was lazy, but apparently it can cause diabetes and/or cancer (the cancer stemming from a slightly different thing, but it's still somewhat related). Western medicine claims it's incurable, but my mother recently hooked me up with a rather unorthodox Chinese medicine, and surprisingly, it's working rather well.**

 **So as you can guess, I'm in an okay mood. Like, relatively okay, considering all the shit that happened in a span of what, two months?**

 **Well, I'm going to stop rambling now and give you the damn chapter. I'm sure none of you are actually interested in my daily life.**

* * *

 _August – Hachigatsu –_ _八月_

SHIKAKEN IV

"Face it. The three of you may work together well, but individually, all of you have glaring weaknesses that need to be fixed now before the enemy takes advantage of them in the battlefield," Mitsuki lectured. "You may compliment each other, but there are times when you will not be around each other. You may be on different teams, or separated due to circumstances at hand."

It was difficult to accept, but Shikaken knew a long time ago that the road to becoming a decent shinobi would be even more difficult for him than anyone else, even the average ninja.

As a child, he had been scrawny. He was also diagnosed with a condition that made his chakra coils smaller than normal. However, his personality didn't allow him to instead to try and become better at Genjutsu instead—he was attracted to frontline fighting like a moth was to a fire.

He had neglected his Genjutsu and Taijutsu in favor of expanding his chakra coils, to become something that the doctors told him he could likely never be.

"I need improvement in Taijutsu, but I'm not sure how," he admitted.

"I will personally coach you on your Taijutsu," Mitsuki promised. "Inokin, you as well. Your Taijutsu may be better than Shikaken's by a small margin, but neither of you are anywhere near Shikara's level of Taijutsu."

Shikara had always been more naturally talented. She inherited their mother's Senju reserves, was physically strong, and was miles ahead of him in terms of Taijutsu and stamina.

"Shikara, your Genjutsu is even worse than Shikaken's. You need to build up an immunity towards Genjutsu, or you will become a liability. However, your Ninjutsu is above average, and if you are interested, special elemental Nin-Taijutsu should be available for you to learn."

Shikara nodded solemnly.

"Inokin, you're a bit odd. You're a jack of all trades, master of none. You're getting there with your Genjutsu, but I think you should try and raise your other abilities to a good Chunin level before you specialize more on Genjutsu and your clan hiden."

Mitsuki finished by making a cross seal. **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

Two shadow clones appeared behind the real Mitsuki.

"Let's get started," they chorused.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this…?"

* * *

NARUTO I

"Make yourselves at home," Naruto gave a smile at his grandchildren.

Neji, Naho, Hikari, Hakuro, and Rei. Five, now motherless children.

"Nii-chan, where are we?" Rei, the youngest, was a four-year-old girl with dark brown hair and chubby cheeks. Hinata often told him how she resembled Hanabi at a young age.

"We're at the Uzumaki clan compound. Grandfather's house," Neji answered.

Naho, the ever polite lady, gave a small, polite smile. "Thank you for having us," she said.

"Ah… It's nothing. It's our job, ne, Hina-chan?"

Hinata murmured a quiet agreement.

Ever since Himawari had passed away, the atmosphere between Naruto and his son-in-law had been hostile at best, confrontational at worst. Naruto had no proof, but he knew, in his heart, that it was the bastard's fault.

It further confirmed his initial suspicions when Neji and Naho made the executive decision not to associate with their father. Had they been any other normal family, it was highly unlikely that would have happened.

No child didn't want a father, even if they didn't admit it openly.

Good riddance—Naruto didn't like him anyway.

"We've prepared three rooms; Neji and Hakuro will share a room, Hikari and Rei will share a room, and Naho will have her own room. Is everyone satisfied with the room arrangements?" Hinata asked.

The children nodded.

"Well then, the rooms are upstairs. The boys' room is on the left, and the girls' rooms are on the right. The second floor bathroom is the first room to the left, and there's another bathroom downstairs if you need it." Naruto smiled once more; the frown marring his face, caused by his son-in-law, had disappeared.

"Dinner will be ready at seven. Please be on time!"

"Hai!" the kids chorused, before taking their belongings up the stairs.

* * *

SARADA II

"Spider, how goes the investigation?"

The spider masked ANBU flipped through the report. "Lady Himawari's home environment did not seem friendly. Lord Akihiko has a huge stash of sake. The estate is in a state of disarray. Reportedly, there were broken sake bottles, and puddles of alcohol spilled on the floor. The estate was not well kept, and according to Genin Sarutobi Sasuke and retired Jonin Sarutobi Konohamaru, Genin Hyuga Neji and Academy student Hyuga Hakuro often stayed at the Sarutobi compound."

Sarada grimaced. The situation was not getting any better. Somehow, Naho, Hikari and Rei being a frequent visitor to the Uchiha clan compound and the Uzumaki clan compound made more and more sense, and it was not in a good way.

She felt a migraine on the rise as she rubbed her temples. "Continue, Spider."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Spider continued the report. "There is also an important piece of evidence of Lady Himawari's situation. According to Nanadaime-sama, Lady Himawari has kept a diary since childhood, and the team investigating her apartment has confirmed that she did indeed keep a diary until her passing." Spider unsealed a light blue notebook inside a plastic evidence bag. Handing it to the Hokage, he continued. "Again, the situation is…"

 _Disturbing? Dangerous?_

Sarada opened the little book. The book wasn't conspicuous by any means. The first page showed a small doodle of cute chibi versions of Himawari with her brother Boruto. Sarada could make out the tiny, yet neat handwriting of her sister-in-law's, claiming the diary as Hyuga Himawari's property.

Harboring a deep feeling of unease, as she dived into Himawari's private diary, she nearly reeled back in horror at the events described in the seemingly innocent book.

From the first day of her marriage, to the first night Akihiko came home drunk—from the day Himawari decided to send her children around other close friends' houses to protect them from their father's drunken and abusive rampages.

As the pages went on, Himawari's writing began to deteriorate into incoherent rambles and scribbles. By the end of the pages, a message written in a dried, brown blood chilled the Hokage to the bone.

 ** _PLEASE, GOD, KILL ME_**

Sarada snapped the book shut as if slapped.

"What else did you find, Spider?" Sarada's voice was taut and she could tell that her personal ANBU could tell her emotions were skyrocketing.

However, she was an Uchiha, and she was the Hokage. She kept it under tight wraps as Spider continued with the horrific discoveries.

Spider's voice did not waver, but Sarada could tell that even he was highly disturbed at the next revelation. "There was blood all over the walls. Some were messages, and the others… I'm not too sure. I believe Lady Himawari was in a terrible state of mind by the time Chunin Hatake Akira confronted her a few months ago."

"Is that all?" the Hokage's voice was hoarse. Spider bowed.

"End report, Hokage-sama," he said grimly. "Monkey will submit the full paper report once the investigation has been fully completed."

"Aa, you're dismissed." Sarada looked out the window. "Will you please call in Monkey for me? After that, you may go home. You've done a good job."

Spider bowed, before taking off his mask.

"Have you visited Akira-kun yet, Rokuro-kun?"

Shimura Rokuro, the heir to the Shimura clan, was Akira's teammate, and Sarada's second student; he was also known as 'Spider' to his ANBU comrades. He had a head of black hair, and intense, dark brown eyes.

"No, Sarada-sensei," he responded genially, several degrees warmer than his ANBU persona. "I have been rather busy lately. But I will come the weekend on my off day."

Sarada gave a small smile. "Good. He needs it."

"I'll go call Monkey now."

The Hokage gave a nod. "Good day."

"Good day, Sarada-sensei."

A stack of paperwork later, Monkey arrived at the office.

"Mask off," she ordered.

Monkey took off his mask to reveal Hatake Asuma.

"Asuma, how are you feeling after heading the investigation?"

"Calmer," he replied. "I think knowing that it wasn't really Lady Himawari's fault really helped… she wasn't herself."

"No, she wasn't," Sarada agreed. "Suffice to say, I will have a lot of paperwork on my hands, and that's probably an understatement."

"This time, it's probably not going to be the paperwork being difficult. Just thinking of all the political implications makes my head spin."

The Hokage nodded. "The Uzumaki clan are out for blood."

Asuma frowned. "While it's a bad idea to piss off the Uzumaki, do you really think calling the Daimyo out on it is a wise idea?"

"Definitely not, but we have few options as it is." Sarada sighed. "All members of the royal family are proud to some extent. They won't just let the Uzumaki trample all over them, and neither will the Uzumaki let this transgression slide. It's a lose-lose situation to side with either of them, even if I'm married to one."

"Maa." Asuma sighed. "I suppose you will be speaking to Naruto-sama and Hinata-sama soon?"

Sarada nodded grimly. "Then, we have to plan on how to approach the Daimyo."

She looked out the window and saw blood red skies. It made Sarada sure that nothing good was to come of this.

* * *

NARUTO II

As Sarada shared the details of the investigation of Himawari's apartment, Naruto grew more and more enraged.

"Enough," he commanded in his Hokage voice.

Sarada stopped.

Naruto glared at his successor. "You will arrange a meeting with the Daimyo and demand justice for the abuse of my daughter. We _never agreed to this!_ "

Sarada stared down her predecessor levelly. "We cannot go into open rebellion against the Fire Daimyo. It would cause a civil war on the scale of the Kirigakure Bloodline purges!"

Naruto hesitated for a moment. Jiraiya's words on peace rung through his head, and he flinched. His mentor's death still caused him ire.

"Yet it remains, justice must be served," Naruto said firmly. "I won't let this slight slide."

Hinata remained silent, but one look in her eye could tell anyone that she was upset, and very much so.

"As the former Hokage, you should know I am in a very precarious situation as it is," Sarada reasoned bitterly. "The Hokage directly answers to the Daimyo. Under no circumstances would treason be tolerated. A full scale war isn't something we can afford right now."

Naruto became silent and brooding, anger still overriding all sense of reason. Sarada sighed.

"I plan to reveal our findings to our elite Jonin, clan heads and ANBU. If worse comes to worst, we will create a war council, and we will further discuss our potential plans."

Naruto gave a small nod, and got up from his seat. "Come on, Hina-chan." He said softly. "We shouldn't leave the kids alone for too long."

"Mm." Hinata followed her husband out of the office.

Sarada sighed, yet again. Things were getting way out of hand…

And if she was honest, she had no idea how to fix it.


	5. Chapter 5: Team Mitsuki's First C-Rank

**Hello, dearies.**

 **I've decided to change the summary because it was shit and uninteresting to a lot of people; not much else has changed.**

 **This chapter contains the 'c' word. If you're not comfortable with that just skip over that part. Also, the chapter contains a reference, and if any of you get it, yes, that's who I want him to come across as.**

 **Please, rate and review. R &Rs restore warmth to my stone cold heart.**

 **Oh, yes. I forgot the fucking disclaimer for about five chapters, so here it is.**

 **I DON'T OWN NARUTO, THE FANDOMS THAT OWN THE REFERENCES I MAKE, OR ANY OF THE CANON CHARACTERS FROM NARUTO. I OWN SHIKAKEN, AND MOST OF THE OTHER ORIGINAL CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY, BUT YAMANAKA INOKIN, NARA SHIKARA AND SENJU SATOSHI ARE OWNED BY MY FRIENDS.**

 **YES. I HAVE FRIENDS.**

 **Anyway, good day.**

* * *

 _September – Kugatsu –_ _九月_

SHIKAKEN V

After the horrifically exhausting Taijutsu training Mitsuki had put through Inokin and Shikaken, Shikaken had never been so glad to see a shower in his entire life.

He was certain that he pulled a muscle somewhere too, but Mitsuki had called in a favor from a young Chunin medic, who healed the two boys whenever they had an injury.

A month later, Team Mitsuki met up at the entrance to the Hokage's office early in the morning. Birds were only beginning to chirp, and the sun was, as usual for a midsummer's day, already up and above the horizon.

"Today, you will be getting your first C-Ranked mission." Even Mitsuki himself had looked relieved. "From now on, D-Ranked missions will be sparser and rarer of an occurrence for you. Eventually, they will be distributed to Academy students in younger years choosing to take the graduation test early, who will be joining the forces later this year. Even if you do not make Chunin by the time the next year of Genin graduate, by then you will almost be doing only C-Ranks."

"Praise the Hand," Shikaken muttered. "D-Rank missions are troublesome."

For once, Mitsuki agreed. "Hokage-sama has reserved a C-Rank especially for our team; let's not make her wait."

Following the blue haired man through the door, the Hokage smiled at her former teammate.

"Mitsuki," she greeted. "Here for the C-Rank?"

Mitsuki nodded respectfully. Sarada tossed a blue mission scroll at him, and Mitsuki adeptly caught it in midair.

"Please escort Matsumoto Fumio-san and his goods from the gates of Konohagakure no Sato to his shop in Tanzaku Gai. Meet with Matsumoto-san and his goods at the gates of Konoha at 1130. Approximate mission time: Two to four days."

"So that's eleven thirty in the morning?" Inokin interpreted the military time.

Mitsuki nodded, before neatly rolling up the mission scroll and stashing it away inside his sleeve. He turned to his team. "Return home and pack for a week-long trip. It never hurts to be prepared. Arrive at the gates by 11:15AM please."

The three Genin nodded and returned home. There was slightly less than four hours of time for them to pack. However, shinobi were trained to carry only the essentials, so the packing was finished after less than an hour's time.

Shikaken decided to take a nap until eleven o' clock, when he would have to leave to arrive in time. A nap was always good for the soul.

After that, Shikara and Shikaken met Inokin around half the way from the gates. Mitsuki was already there, nodding in approval, as his team was on time.

"These are the brats that have to escort me?" the merchant scowled. "I expected experienced Genin or even Chunin, not a couple of Genin so green they could piss grass."

Shikaken coolly stared at his client. "I assure you, although I wear green, my piss is very much yellow."

"Hmph, at least you've got some spirit. Come on, we haven't got all day. I haven't time for you to stand still trimming your cunt hairs, especially that girl." As the merchant walked off first, Shikara looked extremely peeved at the rude comment directed at her.

Before it could escalate into anything further, Shikaken quickly scoped the situation at hand.

"Shikara should probably take up the rear watch," he suggested swiftly, without further explanation.

"I agree." Inokin looked at Shikara, who huffed and calmed down.

"Better than staying close to that misogynist shithead," she scoffed before taking her place at the back of the wagon full of goods.

Mitsuki nodded. "I'll take the front. Boys, take the sides."

Shikaken sighed. "I'll take left. Inokin, take right."

Inokin gave a tight nod. After the wagon began to move, Shikaken found himself bored; the wagon could only move at the speed of how fast the two horses at the front ran, and the horses were nowhere near as fast as even a Genin when they ran with chakra.

Shikaken could hear the not so quiet conversation between his sensei and the client up ahead. Although the merchant was sometimes insulting, between snide remarks of his 'outdated' clothing, creepy eyes and odd hair colour, Mitsuki seemed unperturbed, and even occasionally smiled at the client, from what he saw—However, Shikaken wouldn't call it a friendly smile.

If Inokin cared to pay attention to his sensei, he would've called it the 'I'm going to cause you a lot of pain' smile. Of course, Mitsuki can't legally do that, but he could smile in that manner and nobody would care. Smiles aren't illegal, after all, even if they looked positively murderous.

As dense as the merchant was, even he didn't miss the expression on Mitsuki's face. For the rest of the journey, he was as quiet as a mouse.

Tanzaku Gai wasn't too far from Konoha; by the time it was dusk, they reached the town, even at civilian speed.

The shop was deep in the town centre, so the team had to go a few extra streets. As soon as the mission was completed, Mitsuki spoke a brief and barely polite farewell before the team went off to find an inn to stay in for the night.

"So, what do you want to eat?" Mitsuki had booked two rooms. Shikaken would stay with Shikara, whilst Mitsuki and Inokin shared a room.

"How about udon?" Inokin suggested.

Shikaken shrugged, and Shikara agreed.

"I'll go out and buy some. Stay in mine and Inokin's shared room."

"Hai."

Ten minutes later, Mitsuki arrived back at the room with two bags, each containing two polystyrene bowls of udon.

As they ate, they discussed the recently completed mission.

"Seriously, that guy was an ass," Shikara complained. "Wanting a bunch of Chunin for C-Rank pay? He clearly doesn't know shit."

Mitsuki gave a genuine smile, the first one that day. "I agree—most fully Chunin teams would only accept B-ranked missions or above. C-Rank pay would be an insult."

"How much do Jonin expect?" Inokin asked.

"Probably A-Rank, occasionally B-Ranked; sometimes, on rare occasions when ANBU teams are too stretched out, S-Ranks could be given to a fully Jonin team."

"So ANBU do S-Ranks, usually?"

Mitsuki shrugged. "Not really. ANBU do most of the S-Ranks unless a better team can be allocated, but since S-Ranks are rare, most of them do whatever the Hokage says as long as they get paid. Usually, though, other high level A-Ranks are given to ANBU."

"How do you know so much about ANBU?" Inokin seemed interested. Shikaken twitched, but said nothing as he continued to wolf down his bowl of udon.

"I was in ANBU once." Mitsuki smiled thinly. "I have one of the best espionage records in history."

Shikaken nearly choked. "Sensei, you have neon light blue hair. How do you even go undetected?"

He winked. "I have my secrets."

They finished dinner together. Mitsuki clapped his hands together, and stood up.

"Alright! I expect you to be at the lobby by nine in the morning. It's only eight right now, so you'll have twelve full hours to clean yourself and recuperate before we head out tomorrow."

"Hai, sensei."

* * *

SARADA III

Sarada sighed once again as the shinobi and civilian council took the news.

After revealing the intricate details of the investigation, the whole meeting was in an uproar. Naruto had gained immense popularity, and even throughout his reign, his reputation only became more and more positive. For such an esteemed Hokage to suffer this injustice was absolute blasphemy.

Naruto himself, as the representative of the Uzumaki clan, remained silent.

"Everyone!" Sarada banged her fist on the table, causing a sizable crack. The meeting room became silent.

"I understand your desire for justice and retribution," she continued. "However, you must understand the risks that go with the Hokage directly going against the Daimyo. It _will_ cause war. Is that something we can afford to do?"

Shikadai, Boruto's longtime rival, spoke up. "I absolutely support justice for Lady Himawari, however, I must remind you all to approach this subject carefully. The one in question is the next Fire Daimyo, and we cannot afford to anger our main mission supplier."

Sarada interrupted. "How is the treasury holding up, Wagarashi-san?"

Wagarashi was Konoha's treasurer, and the deputy head of the civilian merchant guild. "We are doing very well. The harvests and production from our vassal villages have been plentiful, and demand in smaller vassal villages have gone up. Out of all the hidden villages, Konoha is currently the strongest economic centre by far, Suna coming in close second due to having recently discovered a gold mine and a diamond mine."

"How would we hold up if we went to war against the Daimyo?" Sarada asked calmly.

The meeting hall once again grew disturbingly silent.

"Well…" the civilian gulped as all shinobi eyes turned to him intensely. "We could do fine for perhaps a few years. There would be a large impact to our economy, but we would still have the economic advantage compared to the other hidden villages due to our plentiful harvests and productive vassal villages."

Tamoto Kenji, the actual head of the merchant guild, nodded, before standing up, speaking passionately. "We must bring Lord Akihiko to justice! A slight against Lady Himawari and Naruto-sama is a slight against Konoha!"

Sarada narrowed her eyes as many of the civilians, and even some of the clan heads nodded in agreement. Tamoto had never spoken for or against Naruto, and had cleanly stayed out of the shinobi matters. It was one of the prime reasons Naruto appointed him as the head of the merchant guild, other than his expertise in merchant affairs.

Tamoto speaking up must mean something, but Sarada was distracted from her thoughts once again when someone started to speak.

"What about other allies of the Fire Daimyo, though?" Inojin, the current head of the Yamanaka, was sat next to Shikadai and Chocho. Murmurs began to rise again as the Yamanaka voiced his concerns.

"Sunagakure's Kazekage also directly answers to the Wind Daimyo, who is in turn allied with the Fire Daimyo," Chocho pointed out. "Should the Sixth Kazekage refuse to betray their own Daimyo, we may have a tough situation at hand."

"Aside from that, the Land of Iron directly supplies the Fire Daimyo with samurai forces." Sasuke, Sarada's father, decided to speak up. As the representative of the Uchiha clan, he had a large amount of sway in the council. "That would put us in direct conflict, and that is, in my opinion, never a good thing."

Sarada fully agreed with her father. Samurai did not possess the knowledge of Ninjutsu, but were extremely formidable Kenjutsu fighters. Most of the forces were Tokubetsu Jonin and Chunin, and they would be hard pressed to fight any well trained samurai.

"I'll talk with Gaara and explain the situation," Naruto said quietly.

Sarada frowned; things seemed to be heading towards war.

"Alright, then," she sighed. "All in favor of justice for Lady Himawari at the risk of war, please press the green button. If you are in favor of finding a more subtle solution, please press the red button."

The Seventh. His wife. Hatake Tatsuo. Hyuga Hanabi. Senju Eiji. Most, if not all of the small clan's clan heads. Tamoto Kenji. Wagarashi. All of them pressed the green button.

Uchiha Sasuke. Uchiha Sakura. Nara Shikadai. Yamanaka Inojin. Akimichi Chocho. Herself, counting for three votes. Some of the more daring civilians. Few reds swam across her vision.

Eight red lights against around twenty green lights. Sarada felt heavy with dread.

"Very well. I shall bring up the matter with Daimyo-sama at the next meeting." She could already imagine the huge political nightmare that was bound to follow through.


	6. Chapter 6: Samurai Attack

**Oh my God. Oh my God. I have to finish my fucking personal statement soon.**

 **This is so unreal. One moment, university sounds so far away, the next I realise it's going to be in one single year's time.**

 **I don't know where the fuck I'm going with this chapter. Please R &R.**

 **Kthnxbai.**

* * *

 _October – Jugatsu –_ _十月_

UNKNOWN POV

It was in the dead of night.

The sky was a pure black, the colour of ink. Stars glittered across the sky, like powdered sugar sprinkled across a dessert.

The men lie in wait, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

The best ninja strikes in the dead of night.

The Daimyo's home was dark. Only moonlight and starlight trickled through the vents, the translucent shoji door, and the washi paper walls, causing everything to look like the various shades of blue and black—even the tree leaves, which had begun to turn into familiar shades of auburn and orange in response to the coming winter, did not look anything of the like in such darkness.

The Daimyo lost track. He was calmly reading a book under candlelight, and had just blown out the candle as he prepared to retire for the night.

Three, two, one. The captain signaled to his teammates.

The leaf symbols on their hitai-ate glowed as moonlight reflected off the versatile metal.

However, before the captain could signal for 'Go', a shout alerted the man. He frantically looked behind him, seeing one of his men pinned to the forest floor by a huge samurai.

His subordinate was dead, a black steel katana sticking out of his gurgling throat. Dark blood flowed out like a waterfall out of the gaping wound as the samurai stepped on the man's chest and pulled out his sword.

"Kill them!" the captain yelled, as he was ordered to. "We mustn't let the Daimyo trace it back to Konoha!"

In reality, Konoha had never sent assassins to assassinate the Daimyo. Another force was at play here—another force that simply wanted the higher-ups of Konoha silenced and powerless.

An agreement between two powerful men. One would gain the political upper hand, the other would be washed clean from his crimes.

Whether or not the Daimyo survived was not the point.

The captain smiled as the black steel katana ripped through his organs, as he had successfully completed his mission, even in death.

* * *

SARADA IV

In the early hours of the morning, Sarada had received a rather harsh and scathing letter from the Fire Daimyo himself.

Something about answering for treason—as if Sarada did not have enough to deal with.

Sarada had not even begun to discuss Himawari's case with him. Akihiko, the Daimyo's heir, had fled to the civilian capital a very long time ago, even before she had started issuing warrants for the man for domestic abuse. Nobody had heard from him since.

Thankfully, Himawari's children had successfully integrated into her predecessor's home. Neji was doing well in his career, and Naho was one of the best in her year.

"Spider, call a meeting. Call the elite Jonin, the clan heads, and the civilian council. It's urgent."

Spider bowed and shunshinned away without a single hand seal.

All she could do was lie in wait.

* * *

SHIKAKEN VI

"Tou-san? What are you doing this early in the morning?"

Shikadai waking up early was probably equivalent to the world ending. Something definitely wasn't right.

His father gave a huge yawn. "Hokage-sama's orders," he mumbled. "Something about the Daimyo flipping a shit."

"Anata, language!" his mother scolded.

"It's okay." Shikara rolled her eyes. "We've heard this before."

"From where?" his mother's expression looked positively evil.

"Ah, here and there," Shikaken said nonchalantly. "Neighbourhood kids, casual civilians, the like."

Haru still looked disapproving, but she didn't have that glint in her eyes anymore. Shikaken continued to eat breakfast.

Shikaken watched as his father sluggishly pulled on his Jonin vest, now distinguished between the Chunin vest with the kanji 'up' carved on the shoulder pads in silver. Chunin vests had the kanji 'middle' instead.

"Haru-chan, I'm going out." Shikadai planted a chaste kiss on his wife's left cheek as Shikaken completely ignored the open display of affection. "See you later."

"See you soon—don't forget to be home for dinner."

Shikadai muttered an affirmative before trudging out the door.

Haru sat down next to Shikara, opposite of Shikaken. Shikaken noticed that her stomach was slightly bloated.

Shikaken finished off his breakfast, taking quick bites of the remaining food.

"You done, 'Ra-chan?" he questioned.

Shikara had finished her drink and gave a thumbs-up. "Let's go, we don't want to be late for the team meeting."

"See you later, Kaa-san!"

"See you!"

* * *

YAKO I

Yako, Rokudaime Kazekage, and the daughter of the Godaime Kazekage Sabaku no Gaara, was sitting in her office, thinking.

Her younger brother, Shinji, was the village's spymaster. The day before, he arrived back in Suna with important news—a letter from the Wind Daimyo.

Feudal lords had always been troublesome. The civilian capitals produced tons of money, but they were barely enough for the Daimyo to spend on useless luxuries and an abundance of samurai guards; not to mention, aside from samurai, the Daimyo was also the main mission supplier. Once, the current Daimyo's father, the previous Daimyo, had indirectly caused Suna to betray Konoha over missions being given to the latter village instead; thankfully, they had been able to pull the alliance back together through the work of the Seventh Hokage and her father.

She growled as she thought about the letter.

~Flashback no Jutsu!~

 _"_ _Welcome back, Shinji." Yako didn't look up from her paperwork._

 _"_ _Nee-san, important news. From the Wind Daimyo."_

 _Yako looked up and grumbled. "This better be good."_

 _"_ _I'm afraid not." Shinji gave a dry smile._

 _When she opened the letter, she had originally planned to quickly skim the letter, but as she read on, she had to read more slowly as disbelief spread across her face at what the message conveyed._

 _"_ _You're kidding me." she deadpanned. "Last time I talked to her, Sarada didn't really like the Fire Daimyo, but she's a pacifist—there's no way she'd send a battalion of assassins to kill the Daimyo."_

 _Shinji whistled thoughtfully. "I highly doubt it's that simple. Something must've happened in between."_

 _A sudden thought struck Yako like lightning. "Shinji, do you know anyone in Konoha's council that wants to overthrow her?"_

 _Shinji's eyebrows raised a little. "Sarada? Yeah, plenty. She's a good Hokage, fair and firm, patient enough even for questions from Genin, but Konoha's council is complicated."_

Like every other part of Konoha, _Yako thought scathingly. As much as she liked her Hidden Leaf friends, their politics was a lot worse due to the powerful clans that populated the village—it wasn't directly their fault, but the fault of power hungry people from smaller, less powerful clans or even civilians all tried to get the upper hand in the stupid elite council. She had gone to Kage summits with her father Gaara and had been to one herself in the past; she didn't envy Sarada's political situation at all._

 _Yako rubbed her temples. "I'd know better than you about those annoying idiots they put on the elite council. I get where you're coming from, but do you really think they'd dare do this?"_

 _Shinji frowned. "Surely, you've heard of Uzumaki-dono's daughter, Lady Himawari? There was an incident involving domestic abuse from her husband, the current Fire Daimyo's heir. Lord Akihiko has fled from Konoha somehow, and nobody has seen him since."_

 _Yako cursed under her breath as she ran her fingers through her long, dark red hair. "Damn the royal family… But yes, that would definitely explain it. The royals don't give a shit about family."_

 _It wouldn't be the first time a son had tried to kill his father. After all, if it was simply an idiot on the council, they wouldn't have had the funds to hire assassins with enough competence (or idiocy) to go around attacking the most powerful man in the Fire Country._

 _It just didn't make sense, until you factor in the Fire Daimyo's heir. The prince had money; oh yes; he had enough to sway the politics of a military organization that he mostly had no part in. He had enough power to demand a betrothal between him and the Hyuga princess, effective immediately, without repercussions._

 _"_ _So," Yako said slowly. "Lord Akihiko, and someone likely extremely powerful on the elite council. What a duo."_

 _"_ _What a duo indeed," Shinji muttered ominously. "Whenever Konoha's politics slip up, the whole world is fucked."_

 _Yako looked at her brother questioningly._

 _Shinji sighed. "Think about this, Nee-san. When Konoha was founded, the other hidden villages took note and founded their own villages. When Uchiha Madara defected, he still somehow comes back from the fucking dead and declares war on the five nations. The Kyubi attacks Konoha, and Konoha's jinchuriki becomes the most targeted high profile nin out of all the lands, Akatsuki shows up and hunts down most of the jinchuriki—and why? Because Madara said so. While the rest of the five nations are stuck in a mass Genjutsu, who comes to save the day? Konoha nin."_

 _"_ _And what is your point?" Yako asked crossly._

 _"_ _When notable events happen in Konoha, no matter how small, it tends to involve revolutions, crazy rogue nin, mad scientists, or aspiring world dominators," Shinji drawled. "And when these crazy events snowball into even crazier events, it ends up involving the whole world."_

 _Yako became silent._

 _"_ _What I mean is, whether or not you fight with the Wind Daimyo, shit will hit the fan. It's just a matter of trying to fight a village with your blood relatives in it or not."_

 _Yako rubbed her eyes. "Shinji, get out. I need to think about this."_

 _"_ _Sure, Nee-san," he drawled as he left the room._

 _She glared at the letter still on her table._

 ** _The Land of Wind is allied with the Land of Fire. Should Konohagakure no Sato rebel against its Daimyo, the Land of Wind has an obligation to help the Fire Daimyo exterminate the threat._**

~Flashback no Jutsu END~

She coated her forehead with chakra and began slamming her head into the table. She heard the door open, but she didn't stop.

"What's wrong, musume?" her father, the former Kazekage, had come into the room. Old as he was, the fifth Kazekage was well loved by Sunagakure, and had been unarguably the best Kazekage, even better than his four predecessors. His policies, from changing the academy system to the alliance with Konoha, had been popular, and those who wanted to overthrow him had stopped long ago.

It was why Yako was both relieved and annoyed at her own coronation. The citizens and shinobi of Sunagakure believed that under her father's guidance, she would make a Kazekage just as, if not better than her father. However, it also meant high expectations.

"Read this." Yako threw the letter, now contained back in the envelope, like a shuriken in her father's direction. Gaara's sand caught the letter and he began reading it, a concerned expression growing on his face.

"This is bad." Her father frowned.

"Tell me something I don't know," Yako drawled.

"How many men does the Wind Daimyo have?" Gaara asked thoughtfully.

Yako searched up a file on her desktop computer. "Approximately eight hundred samurai. However, the capital recently experienced an economic decline, so the numbers have dropped to about six hundred."

Gaara placed the letter on her table, next to a neat pile of paperwork. "What of the Fire Daimyo's men?"

Yako grimaced. "A thousand samurai, and an extreme approximate number of a hundred nuke-nin, averaging at Chunin-level."

"How is the economic situation in Konoha and Suna?"

"Suna is doing well. We have recently found a diamond mine and a gold mine. As for Konoha, they have many vassal villages that produce food produce and manufactured items; Konoha has a massive economical advantage, and we're actually not far behind for once."

"Military in both hidden villages?"

"Suna has become much stronger under your reign," she acknowledged. "We have three Kage-level shinobi, around a hundred ANBU-level shinobi, two hundred Jonin-level or Tokubetsu-Jonin-level shinobi, five hundred and fifty Chunin-level shinobi, and a thousand and eight hundred Genin-level shinobi." Yako frowned. "As for Konoha, I believe the newest update from Shinji was five Kage-level shinobi, around two hundred ANBU-level shinobi, three hundred and fifty Jonin-level or Tokubetsu-Jonin-level shinobi, six hundred Chunin-level shinobi, and a thousand and five hundred Genin-level shinobi."

Gaara calculated the numbers in his head. "We can't send Genin out to fight, so only Chunin-level or above would be allowed on the battlefield. If we added all the Daimyos' men together, it would be around a thousand and six hundred samurai and two hundred nuke-nin. Our forces add up to around eight hundred and fifty shinobi that can fight on the battlefield, and Konoha has a thousand a hundred and fifty five. That adds up to a very close number to the Daimyo's men."

"It would be so much easier if we hated Konoha, but we're allied with them, not to mention we have blood ties now." Yako sighed. "Why does everything have to be so complicated when it comes to Konoha?"

"It's rather simple, actually." Gaara sat down opposite of his daughter. "I received a message from Naruto. He is positive that the Hokage has nothing to do with the recent hostilities, and I'm inclined to agree—Uchiha Sasuke was hostile in his youth, but he's not anymore, and Naruto practically chose Sarada to be his successor since she declared her ambitions. Naruto would know her better than most, and if Naruto trusts her, I will too."

"And what does this have to do with the situation?" Yako asked, annoyed.

"We side with Konoha. Although we're obliged to fight for our liege lord, we're also obliged to defend our ally. Either way, we'd be going to war."

Yako hesitated, before nodding reluctantly. "Will we be informing the rest of Sunagakure?"

"I believe we should declare our intentions to the Hokage first, and tell her to keep this a secret," Gaara mused. "Then, we brief our fighting forces; after that, we wait for Konoha to make a move."

Yako gave a nod. "I'll do that. Thanks, oyaji."

Gaara gave a small smile. "No problem. I'll leave you to it."

* * *

EMIKO I

Outside the office, Emiko gave a grin. "Nii-san, Yuuto, that's it! We're not going to war with Konoha!" they had shunshinned back to the Kage residence, where the entire family lived. Shinji, Emiko and Hyoshin's father, was never at home, but the rest of the family never ceased to bore her.

Hyoshin gave a relieved smile to his younger sister. Yuuto nodded solemnly.

Yuuto was Hyoshin and Emiko's cousin, the son of the Kazekage herself. Hyoshin was a year older than Emiko and Yuuto, but they were in the same team, under a civilian background Jonin, Akane.

Nightfall in the desert gradually became colder and colder as October came. Even though the sun had barely begun to set on the horizon, Emiko was already shivering.

Although Emiko had never experienced war herself, nor had the previous generation, her grandfather's generation and his father's generation was filled with war and strife. She had heard horror stories from those who had experienced the fourth shinobi war, the worst war on record.

It would be difficult for her to fight Konoha nin, knowing that her cousins in the Nara clan could be one of them. Shikara and Shikaken were her second cousins, but every once in a while, her family would go to Konoha to visit their relatives in the hidden village; hence why she had close ties with them.

Besides that, nobody said so, but Emiko herself thought that the feudal lord system was way out of date anyway.

It was time for a revolution.

* * *

SARADA V

Once again, the entire council sat in the meeting room. Perhaps it was a bit too early, as Sarada's keen eyes picked up on Wagarashi's drooping eyelids. Her best friend, Chocho, was yawning, Naruto was dozing off, and Shikadai was fast asleep, face buried into the crook of his arm. Even Tamoto, who was usually attentive, found it hard staying awake.

"For those who are still not quite yet awake…" Sarada coated her throat with chakra. "WAKE UP!" she roared.

The chakra enhanced shout was able to make most of the civilians squeak in terror. The ever paranoid shinobi were instantly on edge.

Sarada had to thank the retired Iruka for teaching her the technique. It was no surprise he'd come up with something like this, considering he taught the academy from his prime to the day of his retirement.

"Alright," she said. "Now that you are all paying attention…"

Sarada read out the letter, and explained the circumstances to her audience.

"Now, can someone please come up with a reasonable explanation as to why this could have happened?" Sarada gritted her teeth.

Shikadai, although still tired-looking, looked thoughtful. "Someone's trying to frame us; Lord Akihiko being the culprit is likely at this point."

"They were clearly inexperienced." For the past two meetings, Shiro, the current head of the Aburame clan, had said nothing. The man was stoic and quiet, and only spoke up when he had something important to say.

Needless to say, everyone's attention turned to him, waiting for him to explain his statement.

"Daimyo-sama said the assassins had leaf hitai-ate and loudly declared that he was fighting for Konoha. Covert operations involving assassinations are for ANBU and Jonin only, who do not only leave behind their hitai-ate, but also carry a self-destruction suicide pill at all times to prevent any secrets from being discovered by the hands of the enemy; not to mention no shinobi sent on an assassination mission would be stupid enough to declare which village they're from."

Inojin gave a nod. "It's an obvious framing attempt."

"Do you think this framing attempt could be by someone from another village?" Tamoto asked.

Naruto glared at Tamoto. "No," he gritted out. "A shinobi village would be experienced enough at assassination not to make such rookie mistakes."

"That would make Nara-san's theory more accurate," Wagarashi pointed out. "If these nin were hired by a non-shinobi, the abilities of these shinobi could be subpar."

"You're assuming the point of the so called assassination is truly the assassination," Shikadai interrupted. "Clearly, it isn't so. If it was Lord Akihiko, all he needed to do was hire shinobi with basic stealth abilities and the ability to put on a foreign headband. The shinobi didn't have to be competent enough to actually kill such a heavily guarded man, because that wasn't the point."

"Why would a nuke-nin accept a suicide mission, though?" Wagarashi frowned.

"A shit ton of money. Perhaps they didn't even know it was a suicide mission." Shikadai shrugged. "Who knows?"

The discussion continued until well into the morning. By the time Sarada dismissed the council, her mood had plummeted to rock bottom.

* * *

Sarada was about to enter the chamber. Nowadays, the Daimyo had a screen that displayed his face instead of meeting the Hokage face-to-face.

She tried not to panic as she stepped into the room. A huge screen on the wall in front of her showed an enraged Daimyo.

 _Fuck me,_ Sarada thought. It wasn't the first time she wished she became a travelling spymaster like the late Sannin Jiraiya instead.

"Uchiha Sarada!" the Daimyo barked, without an ounce of respect in his voice.

 _Hoo, boy._ Sarada watched as the old man's double chin flapped around. _First name basis now? I'm flattered._

Sarada usually countered stressful situations by making snide comments in her head, but she had a feeling even the most sarcastic inner comments would not save her from the Daimyo's rage.

"Daimyo-sama, please calm down!" the Hokage heard one of his servants plead. She nearly scoffed, but reigned it in as the Daimyo began taking deep breaths.

"I have called you here to answer for your treason," he said more calmly. The camera turned to a line of dead bodies opposite of the Daimyo in the room he was in, chained to the wall. Their pale, but preserved faces were clear due to the lighting of the room. "Last week, in the middle of the night, these Konoha shinobi came and nearly killed me! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Sarada had known about the assassination attempt, but had never laid eyes on the alleged Konoha-nin before. She quickly and quietly scanned the faces of the dead men with her Sharingan, but no names came to mind. "I do not recognize these shinobi—"

"That is not an excuse!" the Daimyo roared. The man would not listen to reason, and eventually, he demanded even more.

"Where are my grandchildren?" he banged his fist on the chabudai in his house.

"Your son, Lord Akihiko, took no responsibility for his children. They also refuse to see their father—which brings us to the next topic." Sarada neatly placed a file on the table.

 _It's time to take control of this conversation before it gets out of hand._

Sarada spoke briefly of Himawari's case, careful not to sound accusing. Any offence to the Daimyo could potentially mean hundreds of deaths.

Sarada hated licking his boots, but the lives of Konoha's citizens lay on her.

When Sarada finished, the Daimyo looked moody, but calmer. "Call my grandchildren, and bring up the screen."

The device, manned by a few of the Daimyo's people, had connected with the Uzumaki household's device. A hologram of Naruto appeared. The previous Hokage looked at them, narrowing his eyes.

"Is something the matter, Daimyo-sama?" Naruto's voice was taut. Sarada could hear the anger behind it, but she knew her predecessor was keeping it under tight wraps already.

"I wish to speak to my oldest grandchild," he said. Naruto gave a curt nod before walking off. A minute later, Neji walked into the hologram's detector.

"My lord," Neji addressed his grandfather coldly. Instantly, the Daimyo's expression relaxed slightly.

"Has Konoha been treating you well?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Would you like to come visit?"

Neji did not move an inch. "If it pleases you, my lord."

"Do you want to come live with us?"

If there was any question the boy was Naruto's grandson, it was undeniable now. Fury marred his pale complexion, and he became the slight bit redder in the face. "No, my lord," he spat. "I will never live with _him_ again."

The Daimyo became angry too. "Your mother is gone. You still have a father. By the law, you are his responsibility."

"Then he shouldn't get piss drunk on a nightly basis!" Neji cut off the hologram, the blue image disappearing instantly in a fit of rage.

Sarada felt her stomach sink like a stone in the ocean as the Daimyo turned purple with rage. "You've brainwashed them! You've brainwashed my grandchildren!" the veins on his fat neck bulged. He disregarded all formalities as he screamed at the dread-filled Uchiha in front of his screen. "Tell your fucking tree-huggers that if they want a war, they'll get one! Now get out of my sight. You have ten days before we come and crush you!"

Sarada felt terrified for her people. She hastily gave a bow and made haste towards her village with the terrible news.

Darkness settled across the Land of Fire. The stars, so much like the sugar sprinkled across a sweet dessert, now glinted menacingly like the eyes of a monster.

* * *

SHIKAKEN VII

"Tonight, we dine on boar!" Inokin joked.

Team Mitsuki's latest C-Rank had them wandering out into a small village near Konoha. It was quiet and peaceful, near to a small lake with small white swans swimming across the surface.

A day prior, Mitsuki had commented on how he felt something was wrong, even though not a thing alluded to trouble. So far, nothing had gone wrong.

Of course, killing boars could be a problem for the civilian population that lived in the village, but they were no problem for any high Genin-level ninja. A kunai to the neck or surrounding area was enough to kill one.

However, the boars in the local area was rather large, almost as large as a horse. It took a few kunai to kill one; having a Nara to restrain them was a good idea, so their team was sent out.

The village feasted on the boars the team had killed, and they were set in terms of food for quite a few days. As their team was supposed to return in three days, by noon on the third day, Team Mitsuki had set out to return home.

The village was rather close, being barely three hours of chakra-enhanced running from Konoha. They would take a small break halfway at a tea shop, and continue on their way home.

However, an hour into the journey home, even before they had reached the halfway point, Mitsuki suddenly stopped. Distracted, Inokin had crashed into a tree, but having protected his face with his arms, he got off with only a few bruises.

Shikara and Shikaken stopped gracefully and leaped down towards their sensei, who had stopped in the middle of a clearing. As Shikara opened her mouth to ask what was going on, Mitsuki lifted a finger to his pale lips.

"Can you hear that?" he whispered.

Shikaken couldn't really hear much, having not learnt the technique to enhance his hearing with chakra, but he could feel the ground trembling beneath their feet. Something was definitely wrong.

"Hide," Mitsuki hissed. The three Genin, seeing their sensei's serious face, had leapt into the taller branches of a tree and hid. Shikara and Shikaken shared a look before drawing out their shadows and covering their bodies, as well as Inokin's. Black shadows were harder to spot under the shadows of leaves, but human skin and Inokin's blond hair would make them stick out like a sore thumb in the shadows.

Shikaken watched in anticipation as the rumbling finally became audible to his ears. A Konoha shinobi suddenly leaped into the clearing, followed by eleven others. Recognizing the fire kanji on their clothing, Shikaken silently thought to himself.

 _The Twelve Guardian Ninja._

Inokin's wide eyes peered at his own, the only part where Shikaken and Shikara did not cover. Shikaken could tell what he was thinking, and he asked himself the same question.

 _Why are they here?_

A flock of around two dozen samurai dashed into the fray, steel katanas drawn.

"Mitsuki-san!" one of the Twelve Guardians, a man with spiky black hair, had slashed his own sword across the throat of a nameless samurai. Even from their vantage point, Shikaken could see his glinting crimson Sharingan.

 _That's Lord Uchiha's son,_ Shikaken thought.

Sasuke had two children in the end, Sarada and Kisuke. Due to Sasuke's long absences from Konoha, Kisuke was a full twelve years younger than his sister, the current Hokage. However, Kisuke was infertile, so after a long argument with his father, he left to become one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja.

Shikaken grimaced as one of Kisuke's fireballs engulfed a screaming samurai. The man was swifter than lightning, cutting down dozens in his way. His own sensei was not doing too badly, having summoned a few snakes to his aid. As he activated his Snake Sage mode, his features became more snake-like; he stretched out his arms with his signature jutsu and flung a few samurai around.

According to logic, it was crazy that the Daimyo's men were now attacking each other. Like many others, Shikaken had heard of Lady Himawari's tragic situation, but he didn't realise the situation between samurai and shinobi were this dire.

Shikaken's thoughts were interrupted as a loud clang of a sword brought him to reality once more. Mitsuki was fighting three others at once, and as he was too busy trying not to get slashed or stabbed by the enemy, he did not notice one lunging from behind him.

"Sensei!" Shikaken heard Inokin yell. At the same time, Shikara had brought her hands into a Rat seal, and a shadow shot out, wrapping itself around the samurai.

Some of the samurai turned their attention towards them, and Shikaken could only curse. He did not blame his teammates for putting them into danger, as the only viable option now was to actually think of a way to get out of the situation, rather than whine and get killed.

"Shit!" he quickly withdrew his shadows from covering them, as did Shikara. "Water walking! Do it!" he screamed as he coated his sandals with a thin layer of chakra. He saw his teammates do the same before he made fifteen clones. Five was of his image, five of Shikara's image, and five of Inokin's image. He ran into the clones and immediately ran off. As academy clones were only illusions and left no footprints, Shikaken had to make sure that they left none as well. Running off with the samurai left confused, he finally stopped deep into the forest.

Three samurai still caught up to them, and immediately engaged them in combat.

Shikaken barely missed a cut to the throat. The blade tore off the string of his hooded jacket, and he swallowed. He backed off a little, and the samurai took the chance to charge. He replaced himself with a log behind him, and the samurai's katana slashed right into the log, causing a loud 'thunk'. It was stuck in the log, and Shikaken found an opening. From the top of the now destroyed tree he used for his jutsu, he made two hand seals.

 _"_ _Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"_

The man screamed in front of him, dropping to his knees as both the log and the samurai turned into charcoal. He could smell the sickening smell of burning flesh. All this took place in the span of a few seconds.

He was barely able to dodge as another samurai advanced on him, and he secretly thanked whatever Kami existed, for he specialized in speed.

He was unable to gain any upper hand on this samurai; this one was fast, powerful, and unrelenting. With an unexpected opening, the samurai flung him into a tree with the bottom of the hilt of his sword, and terror gripped him as the samurai advanced on him, katana glinting in the dappled light beneath the tree leaves.

Shikaken thought it would be his end, but a flash of white barreled into the samurai. It was his sensei who came to his rescue. He saw a blond flash at the corner of his eye; the samurai Inokin was fighting nearly stabbed his friend right in the stomach until Shikaken had his shadow lunge at the hulking man. Inokin took the chance to tear his throat with a quick kunai.

Being reminded of his teammates, Shikaken checked on his sister. At Shikara's feet lay the apprentice samurai that had followed the other two, and although Shikara had gotten a few slash wounds on her arms from engaging the samurai in close combat, she had defeated him. The apprentice was barely older than themselves, but Shikara had ended him just as quick as his own first kill with his first samurai.

Mitsuki had decapitated the second samurai that attacked him. The rest of the twelve guardian ninja caught up to them. The twelve shinobi were a bit scratched up, but they did not sustain any fatal injuries.

Shikaken finally had the time to ask the first and foremost question on their minds.

"What the fuck just happened?"

With grim faces, the twelve nin explained the dire relationship between the Hokage and the Daimyo. With war being declared, the ninja were recalled by the Hokage. But the samurai were to capture or kill them, especially Kisuke, who was rather important to Konoha.

After Shikara's injuries were treated, the twelve former guards escorted them back to Konoha, where they learned more of the upcoming war.


	7. AN: No Update :(

**Yeah. I don't have an update today.**

 **Dear guest, I appreciate your rather... enthusiastic defense of my fanfiction. However, one is entitled to their own opinion. And I'm offended because Hinata's badass, and so is her bosom.**

 **I've ran out of finished chapters, although rest assured, content is still to come; I've prewritten the skeleton plot of around five more chapters, but they aren't fleshed out yet. This is the reason updates will be more infrequent now; it's also because my workload has pretty much doubled since last year.**

 **The next chapter will also include some Team Tatsuo character development. If it wasn't clear enough, Hatake Tatsuo is the grandson of Hatake Kakashi, and is currently the Jonin sensei of the three children of Sarada and Boruto (Minato, Mito and Itachi). Tatsuo is the older brother of Asuma and Akira. Minato and Mito are twins, and Itachi is their youngest sibling. Itachi graduated young, because like his namesake, he is a genius.**

 **I wanted to add another OC as Sasuke and Sakura's child, because it's rather odd that Sasuke wanted to revive his clan but only had one kid. How are you going to repopulate the clan if you only have one? But, again, plot twist with the infertility thing. It was mainly an excuse for me not to create more OP Uchiha OCs.**

 **So far, no major character deaths have been mentioned, but with the beginning of the war, shit will start to hit the fan and only time will tell who will live or die... or, the author, me.**

 **My free time is at an end... my end draws near, as my Mathematics Essay deadline comes to bite me in the ass. Chapter 7 is in progress and is near halfway done. I will probably update sometime within September, so be sure to stay tuned.**


	8. Chapter 7: The C-Rank Curse Continues!

**So, I finally got my ass round to finishing the seventh chapter. Sorry if it's poorly written; I have two tests and another essay due within three days, but I still do try to update when I have promised to. The next update probably won't be for another while, although I DO have half-term break to continue writing (a relief).**

 **For the second guest that left a review, I don't really write for reviews or favourites (although they are very much appreciated, because constructive reviews aid me in creating better characters and better plotlines). In the end, I write to push down the deep, ingrained self-loathing I have and to escape reality.**

 **It's just like being a YouTuber. You don't make videos just to get famous, insane amounts of views and money, because that's the wrong mentality. You make videos because you enjoy those moments and want to share it with others. I like my brief moments of inspiration in weaving plotlines, while covering them up with a whole load of daily life arcs. I find them interesting, but it's okay if you don't. I'm sharing it for those who do.**

 **I don't think I'll be able to update until at least three weeks later. IB is killing my brain cells.**

* * *

 _November – Juichigatsu –_ _十一月_

SHIKARA I

It was the weekend off, and Shikaken had a good habit of always sleeping before ten at night. He would wake up early and naturally the following day, and by the time Shikara got out of bed, Shikaken's bed was long cold.

Yawning, Shikara debated on what to do for the day. Shikaken always went out training, either by himself or slamming his fist on Inokin's bedroom door so they could train together. Shikara hated being woken up early, so she would saunter out of bed at noon, just like her father.

It was the beginning of winter, and northern winds chilled her to the bone. Shikaken enjoyed the freezing cold of Konoha's winter snows; Shikara thought he was insane, as she preferred the heat of the sun on her skin over the dry winds of winter.

Her phone gave a sudden ring, and she picked up the device. She rubbed her eyes before reading the name on the screen.

 _Emiko_

She gave a small smile before answering.

"Emi-chan? How's it going?"

"Fine, thank you. We heard about your Daimyo."

Shikara tensed subconsciously. She hadn't even thought about Sunagakure and its pledges towards the Wind Daimyo. Wind and Fire were allied, and Sunagakure could potentially be an enemy.

She didn't think she could kill any Suna shinobi.

"You don't have to worry about the rising sands," Emiko said cryptically. "Wind will enhance Fire, but sand will encase the leaf from flames."

Shikara, understanding the hidden message, held back a grin. She chatted away with her Suna cousin, a burden lifted from her heart.

* * *

MINATO I

It hadn't begun to snow yet, but Minato already felt the November chills.

"So, it's November already, huh?" his sister commented. "When's the next Chunin exams?"

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Only you can focus only on the shinobi aspect," he accused. "It's like you can't feel the cold."

"It will be in two months," Minato supplied helpfully as his sister turned red as his hair. He tried to defuse the argument between his siblings.

"I just want to get promoted so we don't have to do these shitty D-Ranks anymore!" Mito yelled. "Do you _enjoy_ picking up dog shit?!"

So far, it wasn't working.

"A shinobi's duty is to finish the mission for the village, no matter what it is."

"So you _do_ enjoy picking up dog shit!"

Minato looked at his little brother, amused. Even the stoic Itachi was miffed by the comment.

"Of course not, but it's our duty."

"Piss on your duty! I want to be a Chunin!"

Minato smiled in exasperation. "Now, let's not be hasty, Mito. The exams are a while away, and we might not even be allowed to participate."

Mito huffed. "I'll _make_ sensei allow us to participate, then."

"You can't _make_ him, he's our superior." Itachi could not help but rebuke her.

"Shut up Itachi, when I'm promoted I'll make you eat your words!"

" _If_ you're promoted, and that's a massive 'if'."

"Maa, maa. I leave you alone for five minutes, and you're already arguing." Hatake Tatsuo, their sensei, had walked out of the mission office with a scroll in his hands.

Itachi looked at him expectantly, being a perfect little shinobi, whilst Mito glared at her younger brother. Minato smiled apologetically.

"I've got you guys another C-Rank mission. Pays quite well, too. So unless you want to do another D-Rank…" Tatsuo-sensei had a slight glint in his onyx eyes.

Mito snorted. "Please, you hate those D-Ranks as much as I do. What's the mission this time?"

Tatsuo-sensei shrugged. "Nothing much. We're escorting the head of a noble civilian family from River's End Village to Konoha. Mission time is estimated at around two weeks."

As the Genin grew more experienced, they began to keep supplies lasting longer and longer. As now, they were always ready for even an emergency month-long mission, they were definitely ready for a mission that only took a fortnight.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Mito demanded. "Let's move out."

* * *

SHIKAKEN VIII

After a good morning training session, Shikaken felt refreshed.

His Ninjutsu was coming along fine. At the moment, he was practicing the fireball jutsu with only a half ram seal; it was difficult, but he was sure with time, he could do it.

In the past seven months, his chakra reserves had increased exponentially. Finally, all the years of hard work paid off in full; his chakra levels exceeded the expectations of the doctors he went to, and were now a good mid-Chunin level.

He had trained endlessly, spamming his Ninjutsu almost every day; he had gained more reserves in the past seven months than in the past seven years at the academy.

Another reason to enjoy the cold weather was the fact he could now wear his new favourite scarf; it was rich green, embroidered with silver deer and Konoha's leaf insignia.

The scarf was an early birthday present from his mother. Shikara had gotten a red and white one, with the same pattern.

Returning to the Nara compound, he had taken off his shoes before calling to the house.

"Tadaima!"

Suddenly, Shikara came running from her room, barreling into him. She was still in her pajamas, but she was more aware than usual.

Shikara hadn't hugged him in a very, very long time.

"What happened?" he asked, confused.

"The war," Shikara said ecstatically. "Suna isn't going to war with us!"

Shikaken couldn't help but smile at the good news.

"Does anyone else know?"

"I've told Kaa-san, but Tou-san isn't awake yet." Shikara released him from her death grip. "Come on, Kaa-san's made lunch."

"I smell food," mumbled Shikadai. His father stumbled from the master bedroom, and collapsed into a sitting position at the table.

His mother started bringing out sunny side up eggs, bacon and noodles with a side of vegetable, somewhat reminiscent of a normal breakfast, even though it was an hour past noon.

"How's training coming along?" Shikadai asked.

It was a good lunch conversation as any. Shikaken shrugged and answered. "Good. I've got really good reserves now; Mitsuki-sensei's chakra reserve expansion exercises really help."

Shikara gave a grin. "Great for me. Shikaken taught me the fireball jutsu."

He was a bit disappointed at himself because Shikara got the jutsu down in a fortnight, while he got it only after a month of training. However, it was expected; Shikara learned faster than he did.

"When will you teach us another hiden?" Shikara asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"When you make Chunin. I'm too lazy to teach you anything until then," his father admitted shamelessly.

Shikaken stayed silent, as he was too busy eating. He watched as a small expression flitted across his father's face, leaving him slightly confused. It was a definite negative emotion, but he could not tell what it was.

"Well, your mother's got something to tell you…" Shikaken finished his eggs and took a small gap in between to take a sip of water. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't important…

"I'm pregnant," his mother announced.

Shikaken choked on his water and hastily grabbed some tissue as some of the water spilled from his mouth. Shikara was stunned, and did not respond.

"Isn't it a little dangerous to have a baby at this age?" Shikaken asked after he'd cleaned his mess.

He noticed a blank look on his father's face, gone as quickly as it had appeared. If it weren't for the fact he was a shinobi, trained to notice these things, he would've dismissed it as folly.

"Don't worry about that," his mother said. "It will be fine."

Shikaken somehow doubted it, from his father's reactions.

* * *

MINATO II

By noon of the sixth day since they set off from Konoha, Team Tatsuo had reached the merchant town.

It was interesting how the earth was different here than in Konoha; Konoha's soil was rich with nutrients, while in the town, the earth was more rock-like and dry. Even the plant species and fauna differed.

Of course, Mito would scoff at his interest in such trivial things, while Itachi would simply shrug it off, calling it 'practice for spotting potentially dangerous events', but Minato truly found it interesting, regardless of how little his siblings thought of it.

The merchant was haughty, and a bit arrogant. Itachi was stoic as ever, but surprisingly, even their sensei seemed to become a bit more professional in the slight bit. It was rather strange; in the past, their sensei did not lose his generally jovial attitude, regardless of the rank of the mission. From this, Minato could gauge that something was wrong, but he did not comment, as his sensei made no move to confront their client.

He could only place his blind faith in his team, and hope that nothing bad would come to cross.

The war seemed like a distant dream to Minato, who was a Genin, and only had been effected through an increase of frequency of C-Rank missions. Truly, since the beginning of the war, that had been the only thing that had changed aside from the grim looks the people of his village shared when the topic came up.

The Hokage, their mother, had tried her best to protect the younger generation from the war, but horror stories spread faster than lightning strikes in Kumo—already, there were rumors of the horrible living conditions of shinobi fighting in the skirmishes.

Minato didn't want to think about how one of those shinobi could be his father, standing alone upon piles and piles of the corpses of his comrades, as they flailed and bled out into the soil, screaming bloody murder—

"…Minato? Are you listening?"

Minato quickly covered his grimace with a small smile. "Sorry. I zoned out a bit. You were saying?"

His sister continued to babble about inane things, and Minato smiled and nodded at the appropriate times. Sometimes, Mito's ranting grated on his nerves, but today, he was glad for her voice—a medium to bring him back to earth from his masochistic imagination.

At times, he glanced at his teacher, wondering what he was thinking as the man subtly kept an eye on the client. Hatake Tatsuo was a dangerous shinobi, and if he thought the client needed to be watched, there was probably good reason.

Good shinobi did not waste their time looking for threats that don't exist. Good shinobi _know_ what are threats and what are not, and their paranoia and battle-honed instincts are almost always reasonable some way or another.

Minato personally thought the client looked harmless, but he wasn't a battle-hardened Jonin like his sensei was. Trusting his teacher's instincts over his seemed like a wiser choice at this stage.

So, when the time came to set up camp, he convinced Itachi beforehand to not take the first watch like he usually did. Usually, Itachi would take the first watch, their sensei took the second watch, Minato would take third watch, and Mito would take the last watch.

Therefore, the next logical plan of action was that Tatsuo-sensei took the first watch. The man had looked strangely at his Genin before shrugging it off and sitting near the campfire while the rest of them prepared for bed.

Minato was taking second watch, yet he couldn't help but fall asleep, feeling somewhat safer.

* * *

TATSUO I

Tatsuo continued to routinely keep an eye on the client's tent through the night. The client was not sleeping; Tatsuo's trained ears could hear heartbeats by using chakra enhancement, and the client's heartbeat never slowed, showing the man was still conscious.

His watch was to be two hours long. Around fifty minutes into his watch, the client walked out from the tent, claiming to need to urinate. Tatsuo put on an indifferent expression, before nodding and allowing the client to go on his way.

A few minutes later, he heard footsteps nearing his students' shared tent. He narrowed his eyes, and silently grabbed a kunai.

He didn't wait, moving in to intercept the 'merchant', but it was too late as he heard Mito's scream. He saw a smaller shadow run out from the other side of the tent, kunai in hand. It was Itachi, and his blond brother had ran close on Itachi's heels as they confronted the man.

The so-called merchant had a katana to Mito's throat.

Tatsuo landed next to his students, narrowed slits glaring at the scene in front of them. At a stalemate, Tatsuo racked up a plan in his head, but once again, his students had already taken action.

Itachi held his left hand in a half ram seal, body flickering behind the man. It was then Tatsuo saw the glinting crimson eyes Itachi had. The boy had awoken the Sharingan. Itachi grabbed the man's right arm, and landed a solid kick between the man's legs. The latter screamed in pain and tried to end Mito, but Itachi's grab on his arm prevented him. Itachi landed another kick to his groin before the man let go of Mito in favor of clutching his family jewels. Tatsuo would've felt pity for the man, but he had just attempted to kill his student, an act that was unforgivable.

Tatsuo aimed at a pressure point on the man's head before throwing a kunai, blunt end first. The kunai knocked out the man instantly, and he fell to the floor. He made sure the man was unconscious before tying him up with rolls of blunt ninja wire.

He then checked on his Genin.

Minato was looking at his palm, eyes wide. He had awoken the Sharingan too, it seemed.

Mito was the only one lacking red eyes. She looked downcast.

"I know the medical report said that it was highly unlikely I'd get the Sharingan but… This is so unfair!" Mito said, upset.

"Yeah, but we don't have the Uzumaki chakra reserves," Itachi pointed out.

For once, Mito did not rebuke her brother and ran off into the woods. Tatsuo silently made a shadow clone to keep an eye on her.

"Boys, go back to bed," Tatsuo said. "I'll take care of Mito."

Itachi and Minato returned to their tent. Tatsuo sighed as he summoned a ninken to take his message to Konoha; with ANBU speeds, they would probably pick up the captive and arrive back in Konoha in four days.

* * *

SHIKAKEN IX

The team had just went on the absolute worst D-Rank Shikaken had ever done.

Even chasing wayward pets, pulling weeds and other boring chores did not top this mission.

Mitsuki had requested a 'specific mission', a 'war special'. At first, Shikaken dismissed the mission as something trivial—their sensei had told them the mission parameters limited the mission within the village, so at least it couldn't be anything dangerous.

When the mission nin shoved a box of letters in their faces, Shikaken was at a loss what to do until Mitsuki literally threw the mission scroll at him.

Shikaken was nimble enough to catch it in midair. After opening the mission scroll, he felt a pang at the huge black box.

The box was filled with the notorious 'KIA' letters. It was wartime procedure to allocate the letters to specific D-Ranks in order to deliver them to the subject's family.

'KIA' was an abbreviation for 'Killed in Action'. As such, letters had to be delivered to inform their families of their deaths, and offer condolences.

The envelopes were printed in black, with a white leaf insignia to represent an official village letter. However, usual village letters had white envelopes and a black leaf insignia. These ones were the opposite.

He had looked at the box of letters, staring at the countless white leaf symbols on black swimming across his vision. It was a harsh wake-up call—even though the Genin had never experienced the current war, or previous wars firsthand, it was a grim reminder that there _were_ shinobi dying out there for the sake of some vindictive bastard from the civilian capital.

So, they took the box and began to deliver.

From house to house, Shikaken offered the dreaded letters with both hands, offering his sincerest condolences. By the end of the day, he had been emotionally exhausted.

Shikaken had a feeling that aside from servicing the village by completing D-Ranks, there was a whole other meaning to the activity.

Mitsuki had gathered them around the tree stump once more in training ground ten.

"I'm sure by now you've figured out there's more to this mission than the description," Mitsuki said with a solemn expression. "I want you to know that even though you're Genin, unaware of the horrors and atrocities going on out there, that these things _do_ happen. All three of you come from shinobi families—in time, someone close to you may die. It is a reality you must know."

Shikaken glanced at his blond friend—Inokin knew. Today, he had delivered one of the black letters to one of his own clan members.

"In time, when you become Chunin—of which I have utmost confidence in your capabilities to do so—I will serve Konoha on the battlefield once more."

"But sensei!" Shikara burst out. Mitsuki glanced at her, and the latter was silenced.

"It is my duty as a Konoha Jonin. As is yours' as a Konoha Genin," the man said quietly. "Are you ready for the responsibility, knowing one day, a Genin may deliver a black letter to your families?"

Silence reigned across the clearing. Shikaken chose to be silent; Shikara looked intensely at their sensei, while Inokin did not react.

"These are things we have to think about as shinobi," he continued. "I am telling you this to prepare you. Trust me, you will _not_ come out of this war unscathed."

"Sensei, just like us, you haven't experienced a war either," Inokin pointed out.

"No, I haven't," Mitsuki admitted. "This is a first for me as well, but I have been enough life or death situations and heard enough stories from the generation above mine to know that nobody comes out of it unscathed."

Mitsuki sighed and pocketed the scroll containing the mission report. "Team Ten, dismissed. The next week is the celebration for the end of the Fourth Shinobi War, so return here on Monday next week at 0800 hours."

"Hai."

The team left for home with grim expressions set in their faces.

* * *

MITSUKI I

Early afternoon the next day, Mitsuki had heard the rookies were to eat lunch at Yakiniku Q together.

With the other Jonin sensei, they decided to go in the restaurant in disguise to listen in to the discussions—it was definitely not a normal friendly meeting, as those did not happen as often as they seemed.

He had a brown haired wig and make up on to make his skin look more normal in colour; he wore black contacts, and he found that he looked like many others in Konoha. He blended well.

Tatsuo had to put on a wig too, but opted instead to take off his mask than to put on makeup. His eyes were normal enough, so he blended in too. Boruto was there too as the sensei of Neji, Sasuke and Satoshi, but he had simply covered his whisker marks and put on normal looking contacts, brushing his hair to make it look more ruffled.

Asuma, Tatsuo's younger brother, inherited the Sarutobi looks, so he wasn't extremely recognizable. He had since retired from ANBU and become a Jonin sensei, but occasionally, he still put on his mask if there was a secret mission from the direct orders of the Hokage.

"Did anyone else deliver the black letters?" Mitsuki heard Shikara ask.

"We did." Kuroba, heir to the Inuzuka clan, was wild, but less so than most of his clan members. He had a head of black hair, but did not have feral pupils like some of his clan; his eyes were thin, but his pupils were large and dark. When he smiled or smirked, his canines would show from under his lips.

He was one of the first Inuzukas to ever get a fangirl club in the academy, what with his 'dark mysterious looks'; or so Mitsuki had heard.

"The war—it's terrible, isn't it?" Choryu murmured.

 _"_ _Asuma, you had your team deliver the black letters too?"_ Mitsuki tapped under the table, using the Konoha Jonin code.

 _"_ _Yes. Although Shiko is more matter of fact and understanding about the realities of war, Choryu and Kuroba needed to learn."_

They were interrupted with a sudden tapping coming from their students' table.

 _No sand…storms. Sand shield leaf._ Mitsuki noticed how Shikara tapped under the table excitedly, making some mistakes in the code. Their code was easier to use, and were specifically tailored for beginner Genin.

The others grinned and furiously tapped under the table, all seemingly asking where the Nara got her information from.

 _E-mi-ko. From Sand. Cousin. Heard Kazekage, her aunt._

As the Genin once again eased into chatter, Tatsuo looked at his colleagues, amused.

 _"_ _Who knew spying on a couple of Genin could get you premium village intel,"_ Tatsuo tapped, smirking.

 _"_ _Hah. I knew Gaara-oji-san would come to our aid,"_ Boruto tapped smugly, but his expression turned steely. _"My sister will have her justice."_

 _"_ _Of course."_ Mitsuki returned to his meal, but even the discussion at hand did not address his suspicions. He had a feeling that beyond the physical war, there was something wrong going on.

It irritated him, like a thorn in his side, when he couldn't fathom why.

* * *

 **I have a huge plotline planned for this fanfic. It will probably be ages before it comes into play, although I have some idea of what the endgame will be.**

 **For that plotline, the title is somewhat misleading; although the war against the Daimyo has started, it's only a part of the ending I'm thinking of. In fact, I've already given hints about what this endgame plotline will be about.**

 **As for the 'medical report' thing Mito mentioned, in this fic, DNA Kekkei Genkai testing is more advanced. People will know from birth what Bloodline Limit they may get, unless the tester has not encountered such a bloodline before (nothing is 100% sure, because genetics is fickle and sometimes may only happen due to triggers, and if the trigger does not go off, the bloodline won't be apparent unless it's a dominant trait like the Hyuga's Byakugan. Also, if it is a new genetic mutation, the test will either not detect it at all, or detect something abnormal in the area affected, but cannot tell what exactly it does.)**

 **In Mito's case, it was highly unlikely she would get the Sharingan, but she has the Uzumaki chakra reserves (nothing Karin-esque with the bite healing, I don't really want to copy her). Minato and Itachi were likely to gain the Sharingan once the 'trigger' was set off (in this case, the feeling of a life or death situation), and this is mainly why they are Uchiha instead of Uzumaki like their sister.**

 **If you spot any plotholes or shit like that, don't hesitate to review. I'll be grateful.**

 **Thanks.**


	9. AN: Naruto's Reaction Explanation

**This isn't a chapter. For those who want the chapter, it's not update time yet, I'm sorry.**

 **This is for those of you who don't understand why Naruto hasn't outright flattened the Land of Fire by now. I'm not salty about it, and I understand where you're coming from, but there are a lot of factors into play.**

 **1\. He's been through this before. Imagine if he acted impulsively and did a Pein VS Konoha and flattened the civilian capital. How many would die? He understands that killing innocents needlessly is counterproductive. Therefore, he's going to want revenge and justice, but he isn't going to RDM everyone in the Land of Fire to do so. However, if anyone willingly stands in his way, they're fair game (i.e. warriors loyal to the Daimyo. He's not going to give a shit about killing them, because they knew what they signed up for.) He's not going to be a hypocrite by pulling a Pein.**

 **2\. People mellow out over time. My mother was a real spitfire in her youth, but now, even she has mellowed out. Naruto especially; as the Hokage, he will have to at least once put his village over his personal feelings, just like Minato did when he sacrificed himself to seal the Nine-Tails. Naruto's pissed off, and justifiably, but he understands Sarada's position, because he has been through that too.**

 **It's definitely NOT because he doesn't have the power to kill everyone involved. Problem is, if he does that, he also kills a lot of people who AREN'T involved, and if you know Naruto, he's not going to be able to live with himself. Naruto as a child never really had to make a choice, but Naruto as the Hokage** ** _will_** **have to make these kinds of lose-lose choices.**

 **If he could demand a trial by battle or something of the sort and just nerf the Daimyo and his son without killing anyone innocent, he would do it in a heartbeat, but the Daimyo isn't a shinobi or even a samurai. He fights mainly with politics and words, and he is technically a civilian in fighting ability. He's going to have other people defend him, and to get to him, he'd have to kill some thousands upon millions of innocents. If Naruto would kill innocents to get what he wanted, he wouldn't be Naruto anymore.**

 **That's what Sasuke did when he basically put Karin in a near death state whilst trying to kill Danzo. Can you imagine** ** _Naruto_** **, out of all people, do that, even if 'Karin' was replaced with a random civilian? Yeah, no. Despite being forced into filthy politics, being Hokage, he has firm morals. He wouldn't intentionally hurt or kill someone without justification. (If you know GoT: He ain't no Tywin Lannister, killing babies and shit.)**

 **So, there is my explanation for Naruto's reaction.**

 **Tl;dr: Naruto won't kill everyone because he isn't Pein.**

 **P.S. Dear newest reviewer: Yes, war still kills innocents, but you haven't been paying attention. Go back to Chapter 6: Samurai Attack. Naruto only strongly supported bringing the issue up with the Daimyo- he did not endorse, OR start the war. The Daimyo himself declared war because he's a prissy noble, AND somebody framed Konoha for the crime of trying to assassinate him.**

 **Thank you for reading/reviewing, and I hope this clears up the situation.**


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